<h3><a name="IceControl">Ice Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Ice has good control, particularly with its secondary slow effects, and
is very effective against bosses even without Domination. It needs less
slots than some of the other control sets, because several powers
(notably Ice Slick) do not require a significant number of slots. Unlike
some of the other control sets, Ice does not provide total lockdown, but
it can provide significant reduction of incoming attacks due to slows and
knockdown.
</p>
Essential powers: Block of Ice, Ice Slick
Disappointing powers: Flash Freeze, Glacier
</p>
Ice Control has a unique advantage against high level foes, because
neither Ice Slick nor Arctic Air require accuracy checks.
</p>
Ice Control benefits less from Domination than the other control sets,
because its slows, and Ice Slick are not boosted by Domination. Of
course, the durations of Frostbite's immobilize, Flash Freeze's sleep,
and Glacier's hold are all increased, but these are not its staple
control.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Chilblain is a typical single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. It has a
benefit over the other single target immobilizes in that it also
includes a slow and recharge debuff. Its biggest weakness is that it
protects enemies from the Ice Slick.
</p>
[*]
Block of Ice is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. Its
advantages over the other STHs are its obvious visual effect, a good
secondary slow and recharge debuff, and no restrictions against
flying enemies. Its biggest drawback is a long activation time, the
second longest after Strangler from Plant Control.
</p>
[*]
Frostbite is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. Like
Chilblain, it has a nice secondary slow and recharge debuff, but
can't be used with Ice Slick.
</p>
[*]
Arctic Air is an auto-hit PBAoE toggle which causes enemies to
flee, confuses them occasionally and debuffs their movement and
recharge speeds. It has an extreme endurance cost, good slow, and
has a large radius. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5 additional slots,
with 80 - 95% endurance reduction, 40 - 95% confuse duration, 0 - 40%
slow. (It's unclear if Fear enhancements do anything.)
</p>
Arctic Air is very effective at keeping enemies moving slowly and
reducing incoming attacks. The fact that it's PBAoE is nice because
it makes it can move with the fight, or even chase problematic
enemies. The large area and slow means that with a bit of fancy
footwork an enemy can be kept debuffed, and out of melee. The
confuse is a nice effect, but not dependable.
</p>
Arctic Air's extreme endurance cost combined with its longish
recharge mean that it can't be used permanently, however, deciding
when to turn it on and off can be tricky. The longish recharge also
means that having it detoggled can be quite annoying.
</p>
[*]
Shiver is a cone slow and recharge debuff power. It recharges
quickly, has a large area, and a strong debuff, although it does
require an accuracy check. Suggested slotting is 1 - 2 additional
slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, and 0 - 40% slow.
</p>
Shiver is good for keeping your enemies moving slowly to make things
easier for teammates to deal with. Unlike most other control effects
it doesn't seem to attract much aggro, making it a good choice on
large teams. It is often used as a backup control power, when Ice
Slick isn't effective, such as against flying enemies.
</p>
Against enemies who have many attacks, or very damaging and mezzing
attacks, Shiver falls short, because they will still get in a few
those attacks, which can be devastating.
</p>
[*]
Ice Slick is the signature power of Ice Control. It is a
static patch on the ground which significantly reduces incoming
attacks by inflicting knock down, slow and -Jump on all enemies on,
above and below it. It is auto-hit, has medium duration, doesn't
require line of sight to place, has a large area of effect, and a
medium recharge which makes it available for every fight. Suggested
slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95% recharge.
</p>
Because Ice Slick's duration is unenhancable and is not affected by
level scaling it is very effective immediately, and doesn't require
many slots like most other control powers. Because it uses
knockdown, Ice Slick is also effective against bosses, making it more
useful on the largest teams. Finally, Ice Slick doesn't require line
of sight to cast, so it can be done in safety from around a corner,
fully preventing an alpha strike.
</p>
Care must be taken when starting a fight with Ice Slick, because if
done within line of sight, the retaliation can be quite fierce. Also
there is some terrain, notably underwater, where the Ice Slick is not
visible, which can make it difficult to locate the edges.
</p>
[*]
Flash Freeze is a typical AoE sleep power, see the Shared Powers section. Its recharge
time is much greater than the other AoE sleeps.
</p>
Its graphics are much more obvious than the other sleeps, which can
be useful on a team, although they may be confused with Ice's holds.
</p>
Flash Freeze inflicts damage as well, which prevents it from being
stacked on top of other sleeps to deal with multiple stronger
enemies. Furthermore it can only be used on grounded enemies, which
is again frustrating because the -Fly immobs also have DoT which will
wake the sleepers up.
</p>
[*]
Glacier is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. Like Block of
Ice, it has the most obvious graphic, which is very handy on teams.
</p>
Because of Ice Control's lack of powers which work well with
Domination, an Ice Dominator will very likely want to take Glacier
for those extreme crisis situations.
</p>
Glacier cannot be used while flying, somewhat limiting its
effectiveness, and is also a PBAoE which makes it more dangerous to
use.
</p>
[*]
Jack Frost is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. He has a weak
ranged attack, a melee hold and high damage melee attacks.
</p>
Jack Frost has very effective melee attacks, and significantly
increases his summoner's damage.
</p>
Jack Frost is very aggressive, and has a tendency to get himself in
serious danger. He prefers to attack uncontrolled enemies, which
means he tends to aggro one with Freezing Touch and then move on to
aggro the next.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="MindControl">Mind Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Mind Control provides very good AoE control, even on large teams, due to
its large number of AoE control powers. It doesn't have an every-fight
power which prevents retaliation like Seeds of Confusion, Ice Slick,
Stalagmites or Flashfire, its effectiveness is in the combination and
number of its control powers. It also has by the far the best single
target control available, which can make a big effect, even on large
teams, and makes soloing straightforward. Confuse more than makes up for
the lack of pet.
</p>
Essential powers: Dominate
Disappointing powers: Total Domination
</p>
Mind Control is a very endurance light set, in large part due to Confuse,
which dramatically improves soloing efficiency. Telekinesis is the one
endurance intensive power, but is rarely used for extended periods of
time.
</p>
Its large selection of control types (sleep, knockup, hold, confuse,
repel, fear), makes Mind Control the most versatile control set, and the
most likely to be able to exploit weakness in the enemies.
</p>
In PvP Mind Control has a unique advantage, because its powers are
psionic, but not typed positionally (range, AoE, or melee) which means it
ignores certain defence sets, notably Super Reflexes and Force Fields.
Additionally, Telekinesis is very effective, because it's auto-hit, and
few builds have protection against repel.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Mesmerize is a single target sleep with an accuracy bonus,
small damage, a very long duration, and long activation. It's
magnitude is high enough to sleep most bosses and AVs with a single
application. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1 additional slots with 35 -
80% accuracy.
</p>
Mesmerize is very handy for taking single enemies out of the fight
for a long period of time. It is especially effective on outlying
enemies, since they are less likely to get woken up by AoEs. One of
my favourite uses for Mesmerize is to open the fight by using it on
the boss of a spawn, which typically results in pulling the entire
spawn except the boss. A boss can be slept while a more practical
mez type, like hold or confuse, is applied. It also can prove
extremely useful in some very tough encounters, by keeping Arch
Villains and Heroes out of the fight until the team is ready to
tackle them.
</p>
Mesmerize cannot be stacked on top of other sleeps against tougher
foes, because the damage component breaks previous sleeps. When
applied on a sleeping enemy, the damage in Mesmerize will briefly
wake them up, allowing a small movement or an attack. Often standing
behind a sleeping enemy when casting Mesmerize will mean they will
use their brief action to turn around. The damage from Mesmerize is
not reported until very late, which can be annoying because it is a
nice confirmation that it hit.
</p>
[*]
Levitate is a single target knockup with good damage and -Fly.
Suggested slotting is either attack slotting, or 0 - 1 additional
slots with 35 - 80% accuracy.
</p>
As a knockup attack, Levitate temporarily incapacitates bosses, which
makes it very useful for stacking holds if Domination is not
available, or if they are hold-resistant. It is also quite handy for
dropping flying or perching enemies to the ground where they can be
dealt with more easily. It is also a source of smashing damage,
which may be useful to a Mind/Psi Dominator when facing enemies with
Psi resistance.
</p>
Due to the way knockup interacts with powers activation, Levitate may
not always actually result in a period of incapacity.
</p>
[*]
Dominate is a standard STH, see the Shared Powers section. It has a very
short activation time, but its visual effect on enemies is very
subtle and easily obscured by other effects.
</p>
[*]
Confuse is a single target confuse with a long duration and
long activation, and which does not cause aggro. It is highly
recommended due to great versatility. Suggested slotting 3 - 5
additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% confuse duration,
35 - 80% recharge.
</p>
Confuse is a great fight starter, since it doesn't generate aggro it
can be used to prevent problematic enemies such as Sappers or
Demolitionists from ever causing any harm. The long duration means
that it can stack applications very effectively. Also, since
confused enemies damage each other, Confuse makes fights shorter, and
reduces endurance needs.
</p>
The one drawback of Confuse is that it has a long activation time
which can make it frustrating to use in the heat of battle. See
confuse in the glossary for a brief discussion of confuse and xp
gain.
</p>
[*]
Mass Hypnosis is an AoE sleep power, see the Shared Powers section. The big
difference from the other sleeps is that it doesn't generate any
aggro.
</p>
Since it doesn't cause any aggro, Mass Hypnosis can be very effective
for starting a fight and take the edge off the alpha strike. Since
it doesn't deal damage it can also be stacked on other sleep powers
to sleep more protected enemies.
</p>
[*]
Telekinesis is a toggle which holds and repels its target and
nearby enemies away from the caster. It has an extreme endurance
cost, and a longish recharge. Repel protection is rare, so it will
affect most enemies, although bosses and others with hold protection
will still be able to attack while being repelled. Suggested
slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots with 80 - 95% endurance reduction.
</p>
Telekinesis can be very effective in the right circumstances, pinning
enemies in corners for teammates to deal with, and doesn't require
line of sight, so can be used to keep difficult enemies out of line
of sight, even if they can't be held. Since it's also a hold, it can
be useful for quickly stacking hold mag onto bosses, but can be
dropped once the boss is held. If necessary it can also be used to
group up multiple tough targets, and then combined with Dominate to
keep them permanently held, although for a high endurance cost.
</p>
Telekinesis is arguably the most difficult power to use in the game.
The repel is fast, which makes mobility of the caster very important
if the victims are to be kept in the right place. Without a sharp
corner to pin them in, it is tricky to keep the repel from pushing
them in unwanted directions. Its extreme endurance cost can also be
quite frustrating.
</p>
[*]
Total Domination is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. It suffers
from the same visual effect problems as Dominate.
</p>
In some circumstances Total Domination can be a very welcome power
because it is total lockdown, and not easily broken or difficult to
maintain like the other AoE controls.
</p>
Because Mind Control has many effective AoE control powers, with
better durations and recharges than Total Domination, it benefits
less from Total Domination than the other sets do from their AoE
holds.
</p>
[*]
Terrify is a cone terrorize power with noticeable damage. It
has a slight accuracy penalty, a high endurance cost, a large cone
area, a medium recharge, medium damage, and a decent duration
terrorize effect. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5 additional slots with
70 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% fear duration, 35 - 95% recharge
reduction, 0 - 40% endurance reduction. The cone is large enough
that range is not necessary.
</p>
Terrify is Mind Control's staple AoE control power, since it can be
used in every fight, has a large area, and is more robust than a
sleep. It is good for keeping a spawn contained, because it tends to
prevent running, and prevents retaliation for enemies who are not
being attacked.
</p>
The biggest drawback to Terrify is that it allows an attack before
taking effect, which makes it a terrible power for starting a fight.
</p>
[*]
Mass Confusion is a ranged AoE confuse which does not cause
aggro. It has a decent base duration, a very long recharge time, a
good sized area of effect, and poor accuracy. Suggested slotting is
3 - 5 additional slots with 70 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 95% duration, 35 -
95% recharge, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
</p>
Mass Confusion is the perfect power for destroying an entire spawn
without any risk to the team. Even with base duration, it lasts long
enough for a high level spawn to mostly destroy itself. Of all the
Dominator powers this one has the most profound effect on a battle.
</p>
Mass Confusion's biggest drawback is its long recharge time, but the
reasoning is clear, because with a shorter recharge it would be
overpowered.
</p>
Mass Confusion is often compared to Seeds of Confusion, against which
it compares quite favourably. Its big disadvantages are that it comes
at level 32 instead of level 8, and its extremely long recharge
time. Its advantages over Seeds of Confusion are that it is much
safer to apply since it causes no aggro and is a targeted AoE not a
cone, and that it covers a greater area. Additionally, it can be
stacked with Confuse to confuse bosses without causing aggro. The
final, and most important, consideration is that for Mind Control it
is a bonus on top of an already effective set, while for Plant
Control Seeds of Confusion is the core power of the set.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="PlantControl">Plant Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Plant Control provides average overall AoE and single target control.
Its effective damage is above average due to Seeds of Confusion. Its
visual appearance is much more fun than the other control sets.
</p>
Essential powers: Strangler, Seeds of Confusion, Carrion Creepers
Disappointing powers: Spirit Tree, Vines
</p>
Plant Control is the most effective team accelerating power set,
specifically due to Seeds of Confusion and the way it causes enemies to
bunch up and damage each other, making it very easy for the team to
dispatch an entire spawn.
</p>
Plant Control is a very unbalanced set, because the majority of its
effectiveness comes from Seeds of Confusion, with additional support from
Carrion Creepers, Strangler, and to a lesser extent Vines. The rest of
its powers do not bring a significant amount of effectiveness. This
gives it an advantage over the other sets, because with fewer power
choices it can achieve equivalent performance. Of course, this
concentration of control does have some drawbacks, notably enemies who
are resistant to confuse, such as Nemesis and certain Longbow officers,
can be quite a problem.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Entangle is a typical single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Strangler is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. It has one of
the better effect animations, because it is quite visible, but is the
worst of the STHs because it has no secondary effect and has the
longest activation (tied with Fossilize).
</p>
[*]
Roots is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. Roots is
useful for Plant Control because Seeds of Confusion can cause scatter
in some enemies. Additionally, it does double the damage of any of
the other AoE immobs.
</p>
[*]
Spore Burst is a typical AoE sleep, see the Shared Powers section. It has the
least visible visual effect of all the sleeps, consisting of only of
a subtle brown cloud around the affected enemies' heads.
</p>
[*]
Seeds of Confusion is a cone confuse. It has a short recharge
for an AoE control power, a medium sized cone, and a long duration.
Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots with 70 - 80% accuracy,
35 - 95% duration, 35 - 80% recharge reduction and 0 - 25% range
increase.
</p>
Seeds of Confusion is the defining power of the Plant Control set,
and the most effective AoE control power available to Dominators. It
has a fast recharge, so it can be used in almost every single fight,
and a long duration so that it can recharge before it runs out. As
if that weren't enough, confuse is also one of the top two control
effects, since it not only prevents enemy attacks, it also causes
enemies to damage each other, to bunch together for AoEs, and can
steal their buffs and debuffs.
</p>
The one weakness of Seeds of Confusion is that it is necessary to be
at close range to gain the most effect. This means it can be
difficult for opening fights, particularly on large teams where
bosses are often present. However, combining it with a stealth power
can mitigate some of this difficulty. Additionally, while not
available every fight, Carrion Creepers is a good power for absorbing
the initial strike and allowing Seeds of Confusion to be used safely.
</p>
[*]
Spirit Tree is a immovable pet with a +Regeneration (healing)
aura. It has a long cast time, long duration, medium area of effect,
and a poor regeneration effect. The pet itself is large and can
obstruct movement. Suggested slotting is 0-5 additional slots, with
0 - 95% healing, 0 - 95% recharge reduction.
</p>
Spirit Tree can prove useful in situations where control is not an
effective mitigator, although not to the same extent as most control
powers. It can be used to block doorways and narrow passages to keep
enemies at bay.
</p>
Spirit Tree's long cast time make it a dangerous power to use once a
fight has started. Its long recharge time means that it won't be
available every fight. Its large size can prove a hindrance for a
team by obstructing vision and movement. Because it increases regen
slightly, rather than healing, it is not terribly effective for
saving a battle that is going badly, but must instead be used prior
to any problems occuring. It's immobile further nature reduces its
utility, because fights tend to move quite rapidly.
</p>
[*]
Vines is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. Vine's
biggest use is when Seeds of Confusion is not recharged, or against
foes who resist confuse.
</p>
[*]
Carrion Creepers is a special ranged pet summon. It summons a
pet at a targeted location which will slow enemies and prevent them
from jumping or flying, and may immobilize them also. Additionally
it summons creepers for each nearby enemy which inflict knockdown,
attract attacks, and inflict some damage. It has a long duration,
long recharge, average accuracy, large area of effect, medium damage,
and average slow. Suggested slotting is 5 additional slots with 35 -
80% accuracy, 0 - 95% damage, 0 - 80% slow, 35 - 95% recharge
reduction.
</p>
Carrion Creepers is one of the best looking powers in the game, and
is pretty effective as well. Its primary use is to absorb the
initial attack of enemies, allowing other powers, such as Seeds of
Confusion, to be used in relative safety. The creepers can deal an
appreciable amount of damage if they survive. It does provide a good
amount of damage mitigation through knockdown, but not nearly as much
as Ice Slick. The creeper pet will follow the caster from one fight
to the next, for the full duration of the power.
</p>
The biggest problem for Carrion Creepers is all the sources of
immobilize in Plant Control which protect against the creepers
knockdown effects: Entangle and Roots, as well as the Fly Trap's
Entangle power, and finally the Entangle power generated by the
Carrion Creepers themselves. While the creepers are able to attract
the attention of enemies when they first appear, they do not deal
enough damage to hold their attention for long. If not enough
creepers are summoned initially (they require a hit check) then some
enemies will immediately attack the caster. Although the Carrion
Creepers will currently follow you around, I would not be surprised
if this was removed in the future and that Carrion Creepers became
static like the other pet summons.
</p>
[*]
Fly Trap is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. Her attacks
are a small area targeted AoE immobilize, a cone damage with defence
debuff, a single target ranged attack with defence debuff and a high
damage melee bite attack.
</p>
Venus brings additional benefit to her caster by taking some aggro
and some additional damage. She prefers to attack at range, but her
damage output can be increased if she is coaxed into melee with
Recall Friend, using stealth to allow her to engage first, or if the
enemy angers her by attacking her directly.
</p>
Sometimes Venus will get confused and stand back from the combat not
doing anything. While her AoE attacks are useful, they also mean she
has a tendency to wake sleeping, and her immobilize AoE has all the
drawbacks of other immobilizes, most importantly preventing the
knockdown of Carrion Creepers. Finally, Venus has a disdain for
melee combat, which greatly reduces her damage output.
</p>
[/list]
<h2><a name="SecondaryPowers">Secondary Powers</a></h2>
Dominator assault sets are not remarkable for the damage output, and do
poor damage for endurance spent, but they are certainly effective and
they allow Dominators to solo satisfactorily and contribute damage on
teams.
</p>
Fiery Assault and Thorny Assault provide the best AoE damage in the
earlier levels, only falling behind Psionic Assault at level 38 when it
receives Psychic Shockwave. Icy Assault provides good AoE damage,
Electricity Assault provides some in later levels, and Energy Assault's
AoE damage is negligible.
</p>
Electricity Assault provides the best single target damage, followed by
Fiery Assault and Icy Assault, while the rest provide acceptable single
target damage. Thorny Assault and Energy Assault are hindered by long
activation times, and Psionic Assault by its lack of heavy hitting single
target powers.
</p>
Fiery Assault includes a very good damage buff from Fiery Embrace, as
does Electricty Assault with Build Up. Thorny has a reasonable damage
buff from Aim.
</p>
Energy Assault and Electricty Assault provide the best damage mitigation
of all the secondaries because stuns, knockbacks and sleeps are a good
complement for controls from the primary; Icy Assault and Psionic Assault
both provide decent levels of damage mitigation due to recharge debuffs,
making them the most effective against AVs; Thorny Assault provides some
damage mitigation from Thorntrops; and Fiery Assault provides no damage
mitigation beyond defeating the enemy faster with bonus damage.
</p>
The first melee power in each assault set has a 5% chance to drop a
toggle in PvP. Additionally all of the sets, except Electricity Assault,
have another power with a 64% chance to drop a toggle: Total Focus from
Energy Assault, its high damage melee attack available at level 28; Blaze
from Fiery Assault, the final blast available at level 38; Ice Slash from
Icy Assault, a melee attack available at level 35; Psychic Shockwave for
Psionic Assault, its large radius PBAoE attack available at level 38; and
Ripper for Thorny Assault, a melee cone attack available at level 35.
</p>
<h3><a name="SharedSecondaryPowers">Shared Powers</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
The majority of the assault powers are attacks, with suggested
slotting of 4 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, depending
on the typical level of enemies faced, 95% damage, 0 - 40% endurance
reduction, depending on the endurance situation of the particular
character, and 0 - 40% recharge depending on availability of slots.
</p>
[*]
Charged Bolts, Power Bolt, Flares, Ice
Bolt, Psionic Dart, and Thorny Darts are the first
blasts, and are all low damage, medium range blasts. They are quite
useful in the early levels (pre 20), but become less useful as more
assault powers become available. On smaller teams and solo they are
useful for building Domination. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1
additional slots (slots are better used in other attacks) with
accuracy. With their fast recharge, these are often a good choice
for slotting IO Procs.
</p>
[*]
Charged Brawl, Bonesmasher, Incinerate, Ice
Sword, Mind Probe, and Skewer are the first melee
attacks. They all do decent damage, and are highly recommended,
since they provide a significant boost to damage output, especially
in the lower levels. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Lightning Bolt, Power Blast, Fire Blast, Ice
Blast, Mental Blast, and Impale are the second
blasts, and are all decent ranged attacks. While not necessary to be
effective, they do make a Dominator's life easier, especially on
large teams where it can be difficult to enter melee. Taking an AoE
attack instead is a viable choice for a team oriented Dominator.
Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Zapp, Sniper Blast, Blazing Bolt, and Psionic
Lance are the snipe powers. They are marginal powers because
they do not fit particularly well into a regular attack chain due to
their long activation time and possibility of interruption. On a
large team the activation can be too long for safety, and there are
often effects which will interrupt the power. Solo they are a lot
more useful, since there is a much smaller possibility of
interruption, and they do present some opportunity for varied tactics
on occasion. In the earlier levels they are more useful, making Zapp
the most attractive of them with its availability at level 20, while
the others come at 35 by which point the "control them, assault them"
tactic works in almost all situations. The fact that snipes are
interrupted by movement creates a nifty trick for building
Domination, continually activating and interrupting the snipe will
build Domination without actually attacking an enemy. Standard
attack slotting is suggested, with some consideration for interrupt
enhancers. Alternatively the Sting of the Manticore IO set is very
popular, due to its nice recharge bonus.
</p>
[*]
Power Burst, Blaze, Bitter Ice Blast, and
Thorn Barrage are the final blasts, and are all high damage
medium range single target blasts. They fill a gap in the
Dominator's attack chain, and provide a significant increase in the
Dominator's damage output. They are highly recommended powers.
Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Power Boost is shared by Energy Assault and Icy Assault. It
is a self buff of short duration (15 seconds) which greatly increases
most power effects, notably mez durations, debuffs, buffs, and
healing. Important exceptions are knock*, accuracy, damage, and
pet/drop power duration. It is of primary use to Dominators to
extend the duration of control effects, typically doubling the
duration, making it very popular for boosting the initial AoE
control. Unfortunately for Ice Control it does not boost Ice Slick
in any way. Other popular powers to combine it with are: Power Sink
to boost its endurance drain; Scorpion Ray for an increased debuff;
Aid Self for a bigger heal, especially in PvP; Tactics for a bigger
ToHit buff, also good on the initial strike; and Vengeance for
certain high-level content.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="ElectricityAssault">Electricity Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Electricity Assault is a primarily single target assault set with
smashing and energy damage, and average endurance usage. It also has
many secondary effects which are somewhat useful, but not terribly
important, they are endurance drain, recovery debuff, caster endurance
gain, sleep, stun, and knockback. It is the best single target damage
assault set, and has some AoE potential in later levels.
</p>
Electricity Assault is the newest of the Dominator secondaries and is
organized very differently from the other sets. Most importantly, it has
an almost full single target attack chain by level 10, making it a very
friendly set for solo play, even in the low levels. Build Up plays a
major role in its damage out put in low levels, but less so in higher
levels when attack powers are slotted better. The trade off for this
early single target damage is limited AoE potential which the first AoE
attack at level 28. Static Discharge is a good AoE attack, Thunder
Strike provides only negligible AoE damage, and Voltaic Sentinel's AoE
potential is impractically slow. All of this makes Electricity Assault a
very compelling choice for PvP and solo PvE, but not ideal for team PvE.
</p>
While Electricity has a large number of secondary effects, none of them
are outstandingly useful. All of the attacks drain endurance and debuff
recovery on their target, which has little effect on an already
controlled enemy, but can provide some utility against difficult to
control enemies like downgraded Heroes and AVs with superior mez
protection. Many of the attacks recover endurance for the caster, but
combined with the set's endurance efficient melee focus, and its
endurance inefficient fast activation times, results in a set whose
endurance usage is pretty average. The chance to sleep effect of the two
first melee attacks is difficult to use for damage mitigation because its
visual effect is not obvious and it requires fast target switching,
furthermore Dominators do not typically melee with unmezzed foes. The
knockback from Havoc Punch and Thunder Strike can be useful against
bosses, although Thunder Strike's AoE knockback can quite frustrating at
times. Finally, Thunder Strike's chance for stun may provide some
benefit on a rare occasion.
</p>
Essential powers: Charged Brawl, Build Up
Disappointing powers: Zapp, Voltaic Sentinel
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Charged Bolts is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Charged Brawl is a typical first melee attack, see the
Shared Powers section. It
activates amazingly quickly (in just over a third the time of the
others) making it the best of the first melee attacks.
</p>
[*]
Lightning Bolt is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It is
unique in that it is available at level 4, but is typical in other
ways.
</p>
[*]
Havoc Punch is a single target melee attack with very good
damage, but a long recharge. It is highly recommended for increasing
single target damage. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Build Up is a short self-buff to damage and to-hit. Its best
use is as a damage boost for initial spike damage. Although it can
be used to improve AoE controls, by reducing accuracy slotting in
favour of other aspects, much like Power Boost, this does not work
out very well in practice, because an AoE control power with poor
accuracy is almost useless, and the utility of both powers is reduced
by this dependency. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots
with recharge.
</p>
[*]
Zapp is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section. It is more
useful than the other snipes, solely because it is available much
earlier when it can useful because the Dominator's power has not yet
fully developed. However it is still a disappointing attack, with
the longest activation time, and less damage than Thunder Strike and
Havoc Punch. Don't use Zapp immediately after Build Up, it's long
activation time wastes the damage buff, a better choice is Build Up,
Charged Brawl, Havoc Punch, Lightning Bolt, Charged Bolts, and
finally, Zapp.
</p>
[*]
Static Discharge is a wide and medium length cone attack with
decent damage. As Electricity Assault's only real AoE attack it is
recommended for teaming builds. The wide and short cone makes it
more usable than some of the other cone attacks, particularly for a
melee focused set like this. Typical attack slotting is suggested,
with additional consideration for range enhancement.
</p>
[*]
Thunder Strike is a high damage single target attack, with a
small amount of AoE splash damage, and AoE knockback. It is
recommended for its high damage and its fun factor. Its long
activation time is a serious drawback, making the Dominator
vulnerable for that period, and due to the possibility that the
target may be defeated mid-animation, which means it doesn't always
fit as an appropriate attack. Additionally, its AoE knockback can be
problematic on occasion. Typical attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Voltaic Sentinel summons a short-lived non-targettable pet
with a single high accuracy weak lightning attack. Its short
duration means that the pet must be constantly resummoned, which can
feel like a frustrating burden for a power that doesn't have an
instantenous effect, made worse by the fact that only one may be
summoned at a time. While it may appear to be able to provide good
damage, a lot of its attack potential is wasted travelling between
spawns and attacking inappropriate enemies. Overall it is a weak
power which doesn't significantly increase performance, although
there is hope for improvement, because there's currently a bug
preventing damage enhancements from increasing its damage. Assuming
the damage bug is fixed, recommended slotting is 2 - 3 additional
slots with 0 - 40% accuracy, 95% damage.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="EnergyAssault">Energy Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Energy Assault is an almost exclusively single target assault set, with
smashing and energy damage types, and secondary status effects of
knockback and disorient. It is a very weak AoE set, with only a single
melee-ranged AoE with low damage. Despite its weakness at AoE damage, it
is also weak at sustained single target damage, and only excels in
initial burst single target damage. It is a very endurance friendly set,
due to its large damage from the more efficient melee attacks and long
animation times. The damage mitigation secondary effects are somewhat
beneficial, and may reduce dependence on the primary, allowing further
focus on damage.
</p>
Energy Assault is not a powerful PvP set, unlike the infamous Energy
Melee, mostly because it lacks Build Up and Energy Transfer. However,
the fact that it has its second high damage melee power at level 28,
instead of 35 like Thorny Assault and Icy Assault, makes it more
attractive for PvP in Siren's Call.
</p>
Essential powers: Total Focus, Power Burst
Disappointing powers: Whirling Hands, Sniper Blast
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Power Bolt is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. Its
secondary effect is a chance to knockback.
</p>
[*]
Bone Smasher is a typical first melee attack, see the
Shared Powers section. Its
secondary effect is a decent chance to disorient.
</p>
[*]
Power Push is a ranged knockback attack with very little
damage, but very high accuracy. It is more of a control power than
an assault power, and as such should be taken only to fill a lack in
the primary set. Fire Control, Plant Control, and Ice Control in
particular can benefit due to lack of single target controls.
Suggested slotting is 0 additional slots, with recharge or endurance
reduction.
</p>
[*]
Power Blast is a typical second blast, see the
Shared Powers section. Its
secondary effect is a chance to knockback.
</p>
[*]
Power Boost is a short self-buff, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Whirling Hands is a melee range AoE which does low damage and
has a chance to disorient. Its small radius and low damage make it a
very disappointing power.
</p>
[*]
Total Focus is an extreme damage melee attack with a
guaranteed stun. It is highly recommended due to its high damage.
Its biggest drawback is that it has an extremely long activation
time, enough to make Bonesmasher more efficient as damage/activation
time. Typical attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Sniper Blast is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Power Burst is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="FieryAssault">Fiery Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Fiery Assault is the most damaging of the Dominator secondaries, with
exclusively fire damage. Its only secondary effect is additional damage,
which combines with Fiery Embrace to assure its status as the leader in
damage. It does decent AoE damage, although both of its AoEs (Breath of
Fire and Combustion) are somewhat difficult to use.
</p>
Fire resistant foes can be problematic because no alternative damage type
is available. The fact that many attacks include DoT creates
compatability problems with sleep and terrorize powers. For best
efficiency, damage over time attacks, like Incinerate, should be used
first, so that additional damage ticks are not wasted on defeated foes.
</p>
Essential powers: Blaze, Fiery Embrace
Disappointing powers: Blazing Bolt
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Flares is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It does
less damage with a faster recharge than the other first blasts, but
with the same activation, which makes it good for building
Domination, but poor damage for activation time.
</p>
[*]
Incinerate is a typical first melee attack, see the
Shared Powers section. It
deals good damage, but spread over several seconds. To get the best
efficiency out of Incinerate it should be used as an opening attack,
rather than a finisher.
</p>
[*]
Fire Breath is a high damage cone attack, with a longish
activation time, and an accuracy bonus. The cone is narrow and not
long, but the damage is good. Typical attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Fire Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a
nice short activation time.
</p>
[*]
Fiery Embrace is an excellent self damage buff. It
significantly increases the damage of all the fire attacks for 30
seconds, and moderately increases the damage of all non-fire attacks
for 10 seconds. It makes a dramatic difference in the damage
potential of the set and is highly recommended. It has a much longer
recharge rate than the other Dominator self buffs, to match its much
longer duration. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with
35 - 95% recharge reduction.
</p>
[*]
Combustion is a PBAoE which deals acceptable damage in a 15'
radius. Most of its damage is DoT, which means that it appears less
effective than it actually is. It has a long activation which can
also cause frustration. Typical attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Consume is an endurance recovery power with additional minor
PBAoE damage. It has a negligible endurance cost, minor damage, long
recharge, and recovers a medium amount of endurance.
It requires the investment of slots in order to make it an effective
endurance recovery power, and so is only recommended to characters
who are having endurance problems. Its negligible endurance cost
makes it very useful in situations where endurance has been fully
drained. Suggested slotting 3 - 5 additional slots with 40 - 80%
accuracy, 35 - 95% endurance recovery, and 0 - 80% recharge
reduction.
</p>
[*]
Blazing Bolt is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Blaze is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a
short activation, high damage, and a fast recharge, making it the
best of the final blasts.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="IcyAssault">Icy Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Icy Assault is a well balanced assault set, with good single target and
AoE attacks, good ranged and melee attacks, and an effective slow
secondary effect. It falls in the middle for damage, below Fiery Assault
Electricity Assault, and Thorny Assault with their damage secondary
effects and self damage buffs, and above Psionic Assault and Energy
Assault. It is characterized by its fast activating single target
attacks.
</p>
Icy Assault's biggest drawback is that it is very endurance intensive.
Fast activating attacks can quickly deplete endurance, and its AoEs,
notably Ice Sword Circle, have a high endurance cost.
</p>
Essential powers: Bitter Ice Blast
Disappointing powers: Chilling Embrace
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Ice Bolt is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Ice Sword is a typical first melee attack, see the
Shared Powers section. It has
good damage and a short activation time.
</p>
[*]
Ice Sword Circle is a PBAoE attack. It has a short range,
high damage, and a high endurance cost. Its high damage makes it a
very effective power for a melee oriented Dominator. Standard attack
slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Ice Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a
short activation time.
</p>
[*]
Power Boost is a short self-buff, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Frost Breath is a cone attack. It has a standard sized cone,
an accuracy bonus, longish activation time, and decent damage.
Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Chilling Embrace is a toggled PBAoE slow effect, with a small
radius, reaching slightly beyond melee, and a low endurance cost. It
has no damage debuff like the Tanker or Blaster versions of the
power, but has a higher recharge debuff. Its small radius makes it a
difficult power to use for Dominators, since being in melee with
uncontrolled enemies is dangerous. It also doesn't work well with
Arctic Air and Hot Feet, whose flee effect tends to keep enemies
outside the radius of Chilling Embrace.
</p>
[*]
Ice Slash is a decent single target melee attack. It is 20%
greater than Ice Sword in all aspects, including a 20% accuracy
bonus. Graphically it is much larger than the regular Ice Sword, to
the point of absurdity. Standard attack slotting is suggested, with
a little less need for accuracy.
</p>
[*]
Bitter Ice Blast is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section. Unlike the
other Icy Assault powers, Bitter Ice Blast has a respectable to-hit
debuff in addition to the standard slows.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="PsionicAssault">Psionic Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Psionic Assault is the lowest single target damage assault set, and is
also the second weakest AoE set until level 38 when Psychic Shockwave
makes it the strongest AoE set. Its attacks have longer range than the
other assault sets, as well as an appreciable recharge debuff. All of
the attacks but one are pure psionic damage, which means that psionic
resistant foes, who are usually heavily resistant, such as robots and
undead, take a lot more effort. Several of the attacks have slow moving
projectiles as well, meaning that the damage occurs quite a while after
the attack is launched. Its lower single target damage means that
Psionic Assault is more suited for large team play than solo.
</p>
The ranged blasts are arranged differently in Psionic Assault compared to
the other assault sets. Mental Blast, its second blast, matches the
other first blasts of the other sets in endurance cost, damage, and
recharge; Psionic Dart, its first blast, is a faster less damaging blast,
and its third blast, while weaker than the others, is available at level
28 instead of 38. Despite these differences, the blasts fill similar
roles within the set, resulting in slightly degraded single target
damage. Psychic Shockwave at level 38 does more than compensate for
this.
</p>
Essential powers: Psychic Shockwave, Drain Psyche
Disappointing powers: Psionic Lance, Mental Blast
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Psionic Dart is a first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It is quite
different from the other first blasts, with less damage, a much
shorter recharge time, and a greater range. Its slow moving
projectile, long range, and short activation make it an excellent
tool for pulling.
</p>
[*]
Mind Probe is a typical first melee attack, see the
Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Telekinetic Thrust is a melee range low damage attack with
guaranteed knockback, and a slightly higher endurance cost. It is
more of a control power than an attack, although it does provide some
smashing damage which may help in those situations where psionic
damage is being resisted. Like Power Push, it may benefit the
control sets with fewer single target controls. Suggested slotting
is 0 - 4 additional slots, with 35 - 80% accuracy and damage if
desired.
</p>
[*]
Mental Blast is the second blast, see the Shared Powers section. Its low
damage and long activation make it a mediocre power which is
primarily a stop gap until level 28 when Subdue is available. It
also has a slow projectile, but not a fast activation time, so it is
not appropriate for pulling.
</p>
[*]
Psychic Scream is a huge cone decent damage attack with a good
recharge debuff. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Drain Psyche is a click PBAoE regeneration and recovery
debuff, which increases the caster's regeneration and recovery for
each foe affected. It is a useful power when solo to help with
endurance problems, and on teams it can help out when things go
wrong. Its regeneration debuff is also very useful against Hero and
AV class enemies. Suggested slotting is 5 additional slots with 35 -
80% accuracy, 35 - 95 % recharge, 0 - 95% endurance modification and
0 - 95% healing.
</p>
[*]
Subdue is a good ranged attack with a chance to immobilize.
It deals almost as much damage as Mind Probe, and is an important
power for single target damage potential. Standard attack slotting
is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Psionic Lance is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Psychic Shockwave is a high damage, large radius, PBAoE attack
with a chance to disorient. It is the best Dominator attack, and
arguably the best attack in the game. In fact, this power is so good
you will probably want to start a thread on the forums when you get
it. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="ThornyAssault">Thorny Assault</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Thorny Assault is a high damage assault set, with good single target
damage attacks, and ok AoE attacks. Its secondary effects are a good
defence debuff, and toxic DoT. However, the attacks deal primarily
lethal damage which is resisted by many enemies. Also, the attacks have
an associated thorn animation on the caster, which can interfere with
some costumes, has a tendency to look odd on small and large characters,
and which can be frustrating because the redraw interferes with jumping
movement.
</p>
Essential powers: Thorn Barrage, Aim
Disappointing powers:
</p>
Thorny Assault is the most melee oriented of the Dominator secondaries,
its cone attack has a shorter range than the other cones, its second
ranged attack, Impale, has a frustrating long activation time, and its
level 35 power is a cone melee attack.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Thorny Darts is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It
recharges slightly faster than other blasts, and deals the same
amount of damage for less endurance cost.
</p>
[*]
Skewer is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[*]
Fling Thorns is a decent damage cone attack with a good
defence debuff. It has a much shorter range than the other cone
attacks. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Impale is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It deals
the most damage of all the second blasts, has an immobilization
effect and a very long activation time.
</p>
[*]
Aim is a short self-buff to damage and to-hit. Its best use
is as a damage boost for initial spike damage. Although it can be
used to improve AoE controls, by reducing accuracy slotting in favour
of other aspects, much like Power Boost, this does not work out very
well in practice, because an AoE control power with poor accuracy is
almost useless, and the utility of both powers is reduced by this
dependency. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with
recharge.
</p>
[*]
Thorn Burst is a decent damage, decent radius, PBAoE attack
with a good defence debuff. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
</p>
[*]
Thorntrops is a drop power which causes decent damage, slows
run speed, and causes enemies to flee. Suggested slotting is 0 - 4
additional slots with 0 - 80% recharge, 0 - 95% damage.
</p>
[*]
Ripper is a high damage, melee range cone attack with a chance
to knockdown. It has special spin in the air animation, and
consequently a bit of a long activation. Standard attack slotting is
suggested.
</p>
[*]
Thorn Barrage is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
[/list]
<h2><a name="PatronPowers">Patron Powers</a></h2>
The Patron powers are by and large disappointing, because many of them
are similar to, but weaker than, existing Dominator powers. The Patron
Power Pools are all similar by design, the biggest differences being in
the first power of each set.
</p>
<h3><a name="SharedPatronPowers">Shared Powers</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Dark Embrace, Scorpion Shield, Shark Skin, and
Charged Armor are the Patron shields. They all provide a high
level of resistance or defence for low endurance cost, and are decent
powers. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95%
resistance or defence.
</p>
[*]
Dark Obliteration, Disruptor Blast, Bile Spray,
and Ball Lightning are the Patron attacks. They are very
disappointing because they are less effective than available powers
in the secondary due to their long recharge times. The only
difference is that some are ranged AoE instead of PBAoE or cone.
They are only appropriate for a Dominator who has taken all the AoEs
from their secondary and wants more. Standard attack slotting is
suggested.
</p>
[*]
Fortunata Seer, Toxic Tarantula, Blue Coralax,
and Mu Guardian are the Patron pets. They suffer from the
drawback that unlike existing Dominator pets, they are not permanent,
and as such are more suited to special situations. Their damage
output and survivability is not particularly impressive. Suggested
slotting is to taste, depending on preferred use.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="LeviathanMastery">Leviathan Mastery</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Water Spout summons a short-lived, unkillable, very aggresive
pet which throws enemies around, disorients them, and deals high
damage. It is useful for dealing with situations that have got out of
hand, initiating difficult fights, and dealing damage to tough foes
with knockback protection. The immobilizes or holds available in most
of the primaries may be used to pin foes down to be damaged by the
Water Spout. Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 additional slots with 35 -
95% recharge reduction, 0 - 95% damage, 0 - 95% disorient duration.
[*]
Bile Spray is a typical patron cone attack, see the Shared Powers section.
[*]
Shark Skin is a typical patron shield, see the Shared Powers section. It resists
smashing, lethal, and cold damage.
[*]
Blue Coralax is a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section.
[/list]
<h3><a name="MaceMastery">Mace Mastery</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Poisonous Ray is a single target debuff with a decent resistance
and tohit debuff, as well as some damage. It is useful in the toughest
fights such as against EBs, AVs and Heroes, and can speed up some boss
fights.
[*]
Scorpion Shield is a typical patron shield, see the Shared Powers section. It has good
defence against smashing and lethal attacks, ok defence against energy
attacks, and ok resistance against toxic damage. In many ways defence
is better for Dominators than resistance, because it can prevent some
mezzing attacks from ever landing.
[*]
Disruptor Blast is a typical patron attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a small
chance to cause knockback.
[*]
Toxic Tarantula is a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section.
[/list]
<h3><a name="MuMastery">Mu Mastery</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Power Sink is a small radius PBAoE endurance drain and recovery
power on a long recharge. It is auto-hit, which makes it very
dependable for refilling endurance in combat, but has a high endurance
cost, which reduces its utility against endurance draining enemies who
tend to fully drain endurance. It is a decent, if unwieldy, power.
Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 additional slots with 0 - 95% endurance
modification, 0 - 80% endurance reduction, 0 - 95% recharge.
[*]
Charged Armor is a typical patron shield, see the Shared Powers section. It provides good
resistance to smashing, lethal and energy damage.
[*]
Ball Lightning is a typical patron attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a small
endurance drain.
[*]
Mu Guardian is a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section. It does have a
single target heal which it will use on the summoner or other pets.
[/list]
<h3><a name="SoulMastery">Soul Mastery</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Dark Consumption is a small radius PBAoE endurance recovery
which causes a small amount of damage to affected enemies. It has an
absurd six minute recharge time, which makes it a very marginal power.
Suggested slotting is 1 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35
- 95% endurance recover, 0 - 95% damage, and 0 - 95% recharge.
[*]
Dark Embrace is a typical patron shield, see the Shared Powers section. It provides good
resistance to smashing and lethal damage, and okay resistance to toxic
and negative energy damage.
[*]
Dark Obliteration is a typical patron attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a minor
to-hit debuff.
[*]
Fortunata Seer is a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section.
[/list]
<h2><a name="PoolPowers">Pool Powers</a></h2>
Power pools should be chosen based on player preference, there is no
must-have pool, although some are extremely beneficial. The most
important pool powers, which all Dominators should consider, in order:
Hasten from Speed, because it boosts the recharge of Domination; Stamina
from the Fitness pool, to help with endurance problems; Acrobatics from
Leaping, because knockback can kill; and Aid Self from Medicine which is
particularly useful in zone PvP. The Power Pools which should be avoided
except for concept reasons are Fighting, because the values are so low,
and Presence, because Dominators get much better powers in their
primaries.
</p>
In the late game, especially after level 40, enemies with status effects
become very common. AoE mez attacks generate a lot of aggro, which means
that Dominators are likely to experience a lot of these status effects.
Being mezzed or knocked back can be deadly for a Dominator because rapid
response often makes the difference between defeat and victory. For
these reasons, many Dominators look to the power pools for additional
status protection (for when Domination isn't available). Chief amongst
the status protection powers is Acrobatics, which protects from knock*
and hold. Hover provides a more limited form of knock* protection,
turning it into a falling over effect, without the movement. Aid Self
provides an unwieldy stun protection, Health provides sleep resistance,
and Tactics provides fear resistance.
</p>
The high risk of being mezzed also reduces the utility of toggle powers,
since dropped toggles are very frustrating. This is an important factor
to consider when choosing pool powers, because there are many more
toggles in the power pools than the primary and secondary sets.
</p>
<h3><a name="Concealment">Concealment</a></h3>
Concealment is primarily a matter of preference for Dominators.
Stealth is a useful power for opening fights with a well placed
AoE control, notably Plant Control's Seeds of Confusion, or
convincing a pet to engage the enemy and take the alpha strike. Beyond
that, Concealment has no benefit specific to Dominators.
</p>
<h3><a name="Fighting">Fighting</a></h3>
Fighting is a poor choice for Dominators. The additional attacks do not
provide significant benefit compared to attacks already available in the
secondary. Tough and Weave provide low resistance and
defence values which make little difference because Dominators have no
other defence powers to stack them with until level 41 when patron
shields become available. Additional control powers from the primary are
usually a better choice for enhancing survivability.
</p>
<h3><a name="Fitness">Fitness</a></h3>
The majority of Dominators will want to take the Fitness pool for
Stamina, since solo Dominators tend have endurance difficulties
due to the low damage/endurance ratio of the assault sets. Dominators
with confuse powers, high damage pets (Fire Imps), or high damage
secondaries may find that it is not necessary. Those with Icy Assault
will almost certainly want to take it, because its short activation times
make endurance problems even more acute. Any two of the other powers can
be taken depending on preference.
</p>
<h3><a name="Flight">Flight</a></h3>
Air Superiority is a melee attack which provides guaranteed
knockdown, making it very useful in early levels to fill in gaps in
control, and in later levels against bosses specifically. Accuracy
slotting is suggested, or standard attack slotting if desired.
Hover is useful for its limited knockback protection. It also
combines nicely with Wormhole, by allowing the targets to be directed
straight down, thus reducing the problem of knockback. Suggested
slotting for Hover is 1 - 2 additional slots with 80 - 95% flight speed.
Group Fly can also be used with Fire Imps for humourous effect.
Suggested slotting is 3 - 4 additional slots with 35 - 80% endurance
reduction, and 35 - 95% flight speed.
</p>
<h3><a name="Leadership">Leadership</a></h3>
While Dominators don't receive the best bonuses for the Leadership
powers, they are quite acceptable and can be useful on larger teams. The
biggest drawback to leadership is the notable endurance cost.
Assault provides an appreciable bonus for its endurance cost on
large teams, and is somewhat beneficial with Fire Imps. Suggested
slotting is no additional slots with 35 - 40% endurance reduction.
Maneuvers defense bonus is very small, making it not particularly
worthwhile since Dominators have very few other defense powers to stack
it with. Tactics is a nice substitute for additional accuracy
enhancements, and its perception bonus is useful in some circumstances.
Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 additional slots with 35 - 40% endurance
reduction and 0 - 95% to hit buffs. Vengeance can be a very
useful power on occasion for a teaming Dominator, and is of particular
interest for Dominators with Power Boost, which can boost it to being
significantly better than any other villain's Vengeance. Suggested
slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95% defence buff.
</p>
<h3><a name="Leaping">Leaping</a></h3>
Combat Jumping provides nice mobility and protection from
immobilize for a low endurance cost. No extra slots needed for this
power. Jump Kick is a poor attack with a long activation time,
and knockback which isn't guaranteed. Super Jump is the premier
PvP travel power because there are very few powers that hinder it.
Acrobatics is an excellent protection power, and can greatly
increase survivability at later levels. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1
additional slots with endurance reduction.
</p>
<h3><a name="Medicine">Medicine</a></h3>
Aid Other provides some utility for a Dominator with pets, and can
be appreciated on teams. Suggested slotting is heal, recharge, and
interrupt reduction to taste. Stimulant provides a lot less
utility, because mez is usually harder to identify, only a problem in
combat when the risk of the power being interrupted is high. Aid
Self is often useful, depending on play style, and may improve
efficiency when solo. It is also significantly improved by Power Boost.
Aid Self is particularly popular in PvP, where taking significant damage
is unavoidable. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots with 0 - 80%
recharge reduction, 0 - 80% interrupt reduction, and 35 - 95% healing.
Resuscitate is a very mediocre rez power, largely due to it's
extremely long recharge time, and a Dominator would be better served by a
power to prevent the defeat in the first place.
</p>
<h3><a name="Presence">Presence</a></h3>
Challenge and Intimidate are very poor powers for
Dominators who typically have enough aggro, and cannot survive it well.
Intimidate is a weak single target fear power, with a long
recharge, which is not even guaranteed to always affect lieutenants.
Invoke Panic is PBAoE with a long recharge, and only affects
lieutenants who are weak to fear. Both Intimidate and Invoke Panic are
boosted by Domination, at which point they will affect bosses, and are
quite usable control powers. Considering their limited usefulness
outside of Domination, that fear is one of the weaker forms of control,
and that a taunt power is required to open the pool, these powers are not
a particularly good choice for Dominators.
</p>
<h3><a name="Speed">Speed</a></h3>
Flurry is a weak attack, with a long activation time, and a low
chance for disorient. Hasten is an excellent power, providing
noticeably increased effectiveness when it is active, and is of
particular importance to Dominators, because it makes Domination recharge
more quickly, and is mandatory for any build aiming to achieve
perma-Domination Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with
recharge enhancements. Super Speed is a stealth power as well as
a travel power, which can be useful in the same ways as Stealth from the
Concealment pool. However, it can be a very frustrating travel power in
vertical terrain. Suggested slotting is endurance reduction.
Whirlwind is a useful power on occasion, when extra control is
needed, as well as being quite entertaining. It can also be useful with
drop powers (Ice Slick, Bonfire, Carrion Creepers, Thorntrops) to keep
mobs in the patch location. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots
with endurance reduction.
</p>
<h3><a name="Teleportation">Teleportation</a></h3>
Recall Friend can be of use to Dominators with pets, to get them
into melee, save them from bad situations, or position them near enemies
to start the fight. Teleport Foe is occasionally useful to break
up closely grouped enemies, although a ranged attack is almost always
sufficient for such a task. Team Teleport can be used to great
effect with Singularity, because when teleporting directly into the
middle of a group of enemies it will take the majority of the aggro.
</p>
<h2><a name="Glossary">Glossary</a></h2>
Confuse is an effect which causes a mob to attack friends instead
of foes. Although damage from confused enemies does reduce xp received,
it is not directly proportional to the amount of damage, and instead
favours the player. Furthermore since it reduces the amount of time
spent in each fight it actually increases overall xp gain by time.
</p>
Hold is an effect which drops toggles, prevents movement and
prevents power activation.
</p>
Immobilize is an effect which prevents movement.
</p>
Fear usually means Terrorize, but can also mean Flee.
</p>
Flee is an effect which causes attempts to leave an area of
effect. This does not affect players.
</p>
-Fly is a debuff effect which prevents flight.
</p>
Mob is a mobile object, including friend and foe.
</p>
Sleep is an effect which drops toggles, prevents movement and
prevents power actvation, but which is ended by healing, damage and many
status effects, importantly excluding sleep.
</p>
STH is an abbreviation for Single Target Hold.
</p>
Terrorize is an effect which prevents movement and prevents power
activation, but whose effects are temporarily suspended when attacked.
</p>
PBAoE is an abbreviation for Point-Blank Area of Effect, meaning
it covers an area centered on the caster.
</p>
</body>
</html>
Awesome guide. As a newbie, this guide really educated me on the basics of what a dominator is/does. A++ 
Thanks for all the effort.
A really great guide Lili. 
Crestent lvl 50 Mind/Emp Controller http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...cGallary-1.jpg
http://crestent.deviantart.com/
http://www.creyindustries.com/viewhero.php?id=21809
Reading this guide once again. Cant leave it without saying thanks to the author. Definitely a great guide, well written, very useful both for beginners or players having already an experience in doms.
So much great info, more useful than some of the other guides out there, if you wanna call them that Thank you.
I had to register to post just to say how great this guide is. NCSoft should pay you to write one of these for every AT. I want to play a Dom, just because of how well you layout all the skills and pros and cons.
Very nice, thank you very much! I too registered just to say how much I liked this guide! And to ask:
Is there any chance we will get an I16 update?
You're very welcome.
Quote:
How about I18? It's done and linked in my sig.
|
Originally Posted by Cool Matthew
Is there any chance we will get an I16 update?
|
<html>
<head>
<title>Dominator Powers Guide</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Dominator Powers Guide</h1>
<font size="-1">Updated for Issue 12[/color]
Introduction
Domination
Primary Powers
Shared Powers
Earth Control
Fire Control
Gravity Control
Ice Control
Mind Control
Plant Control
Secondary Powers
Shared Powers
Electricity Assault
Energy Assault
Fiery Assault
Icy Assault
Psionic Assault
Thorny Assault
Patron Powers
Shared Powers
Leviathan Mastery
Mace Mastery
Mu Mastery
Soul Mastery
Pool Powers
Concealment
Fighting
Fitness
Flight
Leadership
Leaping
Medicine
Presence
Speed
Teleportation
Glossary
<h2><a name="Introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
Welcome to the Dominator Powers Guide, a comprehensive guide to powers
and power sets available to Dominators. Individual powers, as well as
power sets, are discussed, compared and critiqued. Some power-specific
strategies are also included. This guide is based primarily on my
personal experience playing Dominators, and secondarily on discussions
from the forums. Basic knowledge of the game and Dominators is assumed,
although some terms are described in the glossary. I have tried to make
it comprehensible for new player, but with over 2 years of CoX experience
I can't be sure I've succeeded.
</p>
For each primary and secondary power set I provide a list of essential
and a list of disappointing powers. Essential powers are the most
effective ones in the set, skipping them significantly reduces
effectiveness. Disappointing powers are ones that are either useful only
in rare circumstances, have limited effect, or are weaker than other
available powers.
</p>
For each power I recommend characteristics for slotting, along with
percentages for those characteristics. I do not address specific IO sets
or set bonuses, since that is a much more individual decision.
Currently, going for sets with global recharge bonuses is popular,
because this increases the availability of Domination, and in sufficient
number can allow Domination to recharge before it expires, achieving
"perma-Domination".
</p>
There are many other useful Dominator resources, including
<a href="showflat.php?Number=4397796">Waybreaker's
Guide to Domination</a>, detailed power data available in-game, <a href="showflat.php?Number=8925065">Brev's Guide to
Perma-Domination</a>, and the
Dominator Issues List. There are also many
guides that cover specific power set combinations, or even specific
powers like Power Boost.
</p>
<h2><a name="Domination">Domination</a></h2>
Domination is the Dominator's inherent, a click power which significantly
increases personal effectiveness for a short period. It is the defining
power of the archetype, and it creates the the overall feeling of
Dominators as average villains with bursts of power. When Domination is
activated the endurance bar is refilled, and then for 90 seconds control
powers are more effective, damage is boosted, and the Dominator is
protected against status effects.
</p>
Before Domination can be activated, the Dominator must fill their
Domination bar by attacking and using targetted control powers. (Look
for the dark purple bar right underneath the endurance bar.) The bar has
a capacity of 100 points, and the base increase for each attack is 3
points. This is increased by 16% for each nearby teammate (a
long-standing bug includes MM henchmen in this bonus), and an additional
8 bonus points are added in PvP if the attack hits an enemy player. When
the bar reaches 90 points, a rainbow glow appears, and Domination may be
activated if it is recharged. The bar empties slowly over time, by 1
point every 7.5 seconds, and empties completely when Domination ends, or
if the Dominator is defeated. As long as Domination is active, the bar
will be full.
</p>
While Domination is active, it grants comprehensive status protection,
enhances non-pet damage by 75%, and improves control powers by adding an
additional status effect with a longer duration. The additional control
means that weaker targets can be controlled for longer, and stronger
targets can be controlled more quickly, notably most bosses can be held
in one hit.
</p>
The biggest challenge of playing a Dominator is deciding when to use
Domination. It needs to be available when things get really tough, but
saving it too long reduces the Dominator's effectiveness overall.
There's nothing more frustrating than reaching the final mission
encounter with multiple bosses just as Domination drops. The Dominator
must learn to predict upcoming fights, look ahead, determine if
Domination will be needed soon, and if not, activate it immediately.
Being familiar with the maps is very useful, knowing which rooms are
particularly nasty and likely to result in multiple spawn aggros, and
which ones are likely to hold a larger end-of-mission encounter. Leaving
some enemies undefeated in empty rooms or dead-ends makes it possible to
go back and build Domination if necessary. A Stalker or someone stealthy
can also help by removing the guesswork of where the tough encounters
are.
</p>
Domination does not increase resistance, defence, or health, meaning that
the Dominator is still dependant on control for survival. It is not
uncommon to activate Domination when things start going wrong, and be
defeated very soon thereafter. Usually the defeat could have been
avoided if Domination has been activated earlier, which is yet another
reason for the Dominator to be looking ahead and anticipating problems.
</p>
Domination's recharge is affected by global recharge buffs such as
Invention Origin enhancement set bonuses, Hasten, Speed Boost, and
empowerement buffs. Since this increases its availablity, these buffs
are very desirable for Dominators. Furthermore, with sufficient global
recharge buffs Domination can be made to recharge before its effect
expires, creating "perma-Domination". Attacking is not necessary to
maintain perma-Domination, because the active Domination ensures that the
Domination bar is always full, overriding the bar-emptying effect of the
previous Domination ending. Naturally, a Dominator in perma-Domination
is a very powerful villain indeed.
</p>
<h2><a name="PrimaryPowers">Primary Powers</a></h2>
All of the primary power sets are effective, each with its own strengths.
By the mid 20s they can all be used to solo very effectively, although
some are difficult in the earlier levels. After level 32 they can all
contribute effectively to teams, although some struggle before this.
</p>
Earth Control has the most AoE control, and shows its AoE strength from
the earliest levels, but its control benefits much less from Domination.
Mind Control has slightly fewer AoE powers than Earth Control, but after
level 32 is on par because its AoE control powers all benefit from
Domination, it has confuse powers, and two of its AoEs do not cause
aggro. Plant Control and Ice Control both provide decent AoE control
from early levels, while Fire Control and Gravity Control both have bad
AoE control until the late 20s, after which things improve somewhat.
</p>
Mind Control provides the best single target control through all 50
levels, Gravity Control is second best, and the remaining sets are all
about equal. When fighting a single Archvillain or Hero, who have very
strong protection against most control effects, Ice Control is preferred
due to its slows, although a well-enhanced Mind Control or Fire Control
Dominator may be able to overcome the protection.
</p>
Fire Control provides significant damage thanks to Fire Imps. Jack Frost
from Ice Control also can provide respectable damage, although he is
quite fragile. Mind Control lacks in damage in later levels because it
has no pet, but its confuse effects can compensate for this. The
remaining primaries are on par for damage, which typically pales in
comparison to the damage from the secondary.
</p>
For PvP, all of the primaries are effective against foes without mez
protection, but unfortunately mez protection is extremely common.
Against foes with mez protection, Gravity Control and, to a lesser
extent, Ice Control have slows in their holds and immobilizes, and Mind
Control has repel in Telekinesis. Mind Control is also interesting
because it has a wide variety of mez types, including fear which is less
often protected against. Fire Imps from Fire Control can be very
effective, although they are difficult to use in some environments such
as zone PvP.
</p>
<h3><a name="SharedPrimaryPowers">Shared Powers</a></h3>
<ul>[*]
Stone Prison, Ring of Fire, Crush,
Chilblain, and Entangle are single target immobilize
powers. They are mag 4, which means that they can immobilize a boss
or AV/Hero in one hit. They have an accuracy bonus, high endurance
cost, and low damage over time. They are acceptable powers in some
circumstances, but most other powers are superior. Suggested
slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots, with 33 - 70% accuracy, 0 - 40%
endurance reduction.
</p>
They can be useful in a Dominator's early career, when holding bosses
is difficult due to poor accuracy and hold duration, and keeping out
of melee increases survivability. This is most useful for a solo
Dominator. They can also be used in combination with terrain to keep
enemies out of sight and reduce incoming damage. Their fast recharge
makes them tempting for building Domination, but they will need to be
slotted for endurance reduction if this is done. They maintain
some usefulness in higher levels, particularly against AVs and
Heroes, where immobilizing them allows the team more control over how
to engage the enemy, as well as against some bosses who are still
weak at range, such as Freakshow tanks. Other handy applications are
in missions where an enemy must not escape, or against foes who have
a tendency to scatter.
</p>
In many ways applying immobilize powers makes enemies more
dangerous: as control powers they draw aggro; the target is unable to
move and will thus focus more on attacking; the target is protected
from effects which causing fleeing; the target is protected from Sleep
effects due to the damage over time; and finally all of them, except
Crush, have the unfortunate effect of granting knock* protection to
their targets, which is unfortunate since knockdown is a fairly
popular form of damage mitigation. Later in the Dominator's career,
when more powers are available, immobilizing a single target is not
nearly as useful, especially since the more mobile targets like
Warwolves, CoT ghosts and Synapse have immobilize protection. They
are not viable as sources of damage, primarily because of endurance
cost.
</p>
[*]
Fossilize, Char, Gravity Distortion, Block of
Ice, Dominate, and Strangler are single target hold
(STH) powers, which provide the foundation for a Dominator's control.
They have a long duration hold effect, fast recharge, an accuracy
bonus, high endurance cost, and low damage. They are indispensable
throughout every Dominator's career, and should be taken as soon as
available (either at level 1 or 2). Suggested slotting is 5
additional slots, with 33 - 70% accuracy, 70
- 95% hold duration, 33 - 80% recharge, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
</p>
An important difference between the STHs is their activation time.
Those with a short activation time (Char and Dominate) can be used to
apply a higher level hold magnitude on a single target. Some of the
others (Fossilize, Gravity Distortion, and Block of Ice) have
additional debuff effects.
</p>
[*]
Stone Cages, Fire Cages, Crushing Field,
Frostbite, and Roots are targeted AoE immobilize
powers, which prevent their targets from moving for a while. They
have high endurance cost, low accuracy, decent immobilize duration,
and low damage over time. They are poor powers, and are not a
foundation for good control despite the fact that they are available
early. Suggested slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots, with 60 - 80%
accuracy, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
</p>
They can be used for damage mitigation in conjunction with terrain
since they can immobilize enemies close to the target even if they
are out of line of sight, and thus preventing retaliation. To do
this, arrange yourself so that your target is visible, while its
nearby friends are not, and activate the AoE immobilize. The others
will be hit and immobilized, but unable to attack since they cannot
see you. It can be useful to prevent some types of enemies from
scattering (eg. Air Thorn Casters), but is unfortunately ineffective
against some mobile enemies (eg. War Wolves, CoT ghosts). Other uses
for the AoE immobilizes are to improve the effectiveness of
teammates' powers, for instance, keeping enemies within AoE debuffs
or damage powers, or preventing annoying knockback from powers such
as the infamous Bruiser Handclap of Thugs Masterminds.
</p>
The AoE immobilizes can be a great source of problems for Dominators.
As discussed for the single target immobilizes, they make enemies
more dangerous. Additionally, they can draw a significant amout of
aggro due to their large radius and target cap. This can be fatal if
used too early in a fight, or if teammates are not competing for
aggro through aggro control powers or AoEs. They do not become very
useful until the teen levels, many levels after they become
available.
</p>
[*]
Salt Crystals, Flash Freeze, Mass Hypnosis, and
Spore Burst are the AoE sleeps, which prevent their targets
from moving or attacking for a short time, unless they are damaged or
healed. They have average accuracy, medium durations and medium
recharges. All of them except Salt Crystals are ranged AoE which
make them handy for crisis situations. Suggested slotting is 2 - 4
additional slots, with 70 - 90% accuracy, 35 - 95% duration.
</p>
Sleeps are excellent for dealing with extra spawns and ambushes which
the team is not yet ready to tackle, or just to take the edge off a
single spawn if it's a little too tough. A solo Dominator who
prefers single target damage can also use sleeps to very good effect.
</p>
The biggest drawback of sleeps is that most teams use AoE attacks
which will typically wake up all the sleepers, meaning that the power
is mostly wasted.
</p>
[*]
Cinders, Gravity Distortion Field, Glacier,
Total Domination, and Vines are the AoE holds. They
have long recharges, poor accuracy, and short durations. Unslotted
they are poor powers, with many slots they are passable and are
handy in bad situations. Due to short durations at lower levels, and
lack of slots and good enhancements, it's not recommended to take the
AoE holds before the mid-20s. Suggested slotting is 4 - 5 additional
slots, with 70 - 90% accuracy, 35 - 95% duration, 35 - 95% recharge.
</p>
One popular use for AoE holds is combining them with the STH to hold
a boss quickly when Domination isn't available. When slotted they
are also useful in an emergency situation, particularly if Domination
is active. When slotted with multi facet enhancements, they can
reach 95% bonus for recharge, accuracy, and duration, at which point
they become reasonably useful.
</p>
Their long recharge means they will not be available for every spawn,
relegating them to more of an emergency type of power. Their short
duration and poor accuracy mean that they must be heavily slotted to
be effective even in emergencies.
</p>
[*]
Animate Stone, Fire Imps, Singularity, Jack
Frost, and Fly Trap are the pet powers. These powers
summon pets which follow their summoner, attack any nearby enemies
and can be attacked themselves. The pets remain until they are
killed, the summoner leaves the zone, dies, dismisses them, or
recasts the summon power. Their damage is treated as coming from
their summoner, and if they die their aggro will be transferred to
the summoner. The pets have average accuracy, and can contribute
nicely to damage (except Singularity) and survivability, although
they do have a few AI problems. Suggested slotting is 3 - 4
additional slots, with 35 - 70% accuracy, and 95% damage (except for
Singularity). Status effects may be slotted if desired.
</p>
The pets will move towards their summoner if they are more than 20ft
away normally, or 100ft if the pet is engaged in combat. Pets will
attack any enemy they perceive, normally within 40ft, although this
can be increased with powers such as Tactics. They ignore
invisibility powers and can perceive and attack invisible enemies
within their perception radius. When an enemy becomes aware of a
pet, they become aware of the summoner as well, so an errant pet is
very capable of bringing unwanted aggro onto their summoner.
</p>
The pets noticeably increase the Dominator's effectiveness,
particularly when solo, and these powers are highly recommended.
They all increase damage output, but by different amounts, and they
all improve survivability, because they are capable of occupying one
or more enemies. A stealthy Dominator can have their pet take the
alpha strike, by running past a spawn, allowing the pet to be sighted
first, although this can significantly reduce the life span of a pet.
</p>
The pets are all aggressive, and prevent stealth type behaviour or
quick travel when summoned. They all have behaviour quirks which
reduce their effectiveness.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="EarthControl">Earth Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Earth Control has the most AoE control powers, but several of them are
not boosted by Domination. It is the most consistent of primaries,
providing the most AoE control while Domination is off, but not being
significantly boosted when Domination is on. Its secondary defense
debuff effect is also very useful both while solo and teamed,
particularly in the low levels.
</p>
Essential powers: Fossilize, Stalagmites
Disappointing powers: Salt Crystals
</p>
Earth's large number of control powers give flexibility to choose a
preferred control style. Stalagmites provides complete damage mitigation
against weaker enemies for shorter periods of time, Earthquake provides
partial damage mitigation for longer and is effective against bosses and
high level enemies, Volcanic Gasses has a long duration and works against
all enemies, but is not available as regularly, Quicksand provides some
partial mitigation as well, because enemies spend more time moving, and
less time fighting. Alternatively, taking them all allows for
overcontrol even when things get out of hand in a large team environment.
However, Stalagmites is considered essential because it is the only AoE
which is boosted by Domination.
</p>
Earth's defense debuffs make it possible to be effective without slotting
accuracy at all, even against enemies a couple of levels higher. This
allows the Dominator to slot more damage in attacks, which is highly
beneficial at lower levels when there are never enough slots. The key to
doing this is to use Quicksand all the time for it's autohit def debuff.
The base debuffs are quite sizeable, which is why none of the powers
(except Earthquake) accept defense debuff enhancements.
</p>
All of the drop powers (Quicksand, Earthquake, Volcanic Gasses) have an
interesting property that if the caster is out of line of sight, and not
too close, they will not cause aggro. This means that they can be placed
in any preferred order, usually Quicksand first, without concern of
retaliation or scatter.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Stone Prison is a typical single target immobilize, see the
Shared Powers section. It has a
good defense debuff which can be useful against hard to hit enemies.
</p>
[*]
Fossilize is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. It's got a
long activation time, but a good visual effect, and a nice defense
debuff.
</p>
[*]
Stone Cages is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. This power is
even less desirable for Earth Control than for the other primaries,
because there are so many other more effective AoEs, and because it
interferes with Earthquake's knockdown and with Quicksand's slows.
The prime benefit of the immobilize, preventing enemy scatter, can be
emulated by Quicksand slotted for slow. The defense debuff is nice
but not very important since every other power provides some too.
</p>
[*]
Quicksand is a placed power which slows enemies' movement and
debuffs their defense in a medium sized area, without requiring an
accuracy check. It has a good slow component, high defense debuff,
good duration and fast recharge, and unenhanced it recharges well
before it expires. Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 additional slots,
with 30 - 95% slow, 0 - 40% recharge, and damage procs.
</p>
Quicksand is a very effective from the beginning of any fight, many
enemies will immediately try to engage in melee, but will be
significantly slowed in their approach, giving plenty of time before
they arrive. The defense debuff is the largest of any of the Earth
Control powers and requires no accuracy check, making enemies
significantly easier to hit for the whole team.
</p>
Some enemies will attempt to flee the Quicksand, and gather at the
edges, so this power can cause some scatter, particularly if it has
not been enhanced with slows. This can be mitigated by placing it
slightly to one side to encourage enemies to gather on the other.
</p>
[*]
Salt Crystals is a typical AoE sleep, see the Shared Powers section. Its major
drawback compared with the other sleeps is that it is PBAoE and not
ranged. It does have the advantage of having a defense debuff as
well, but of course, so does every other power in the set.
</p>
[*]
Stalagmites is a targeted AoE disorient. It has a large area
of effect, poor accuracy, medium recharge, short disorient effect,
and minor damage. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots, with
60 - 80% accuracy, 40 - 95% disorient duration, and 0 - 80% recharge.
</p>
Stalagmites has a very large area of effect for a control power, only
matched by Flashfire from Fire Control. It is very important to
Earth Control because it is the only AoE power that prevents
attacking which is boosted by Domination. Many people find that it
is even more effective when combined with Stone Cages, to prevent mob
scatter, although this is certainly not essential.
</p>
The short duration of Stalagmites makes it quite frustrating until
higher levels when mez duration scales up, and enhancements are
stronger. Its recharge is unfortunately just a bit too long, meaning
it may not be ready for the beginning of every fight, especially on
fast moving teams.
</p>
[*]
Earthquake is a static patch on the ground which significantly
reduces incoming attacks by knocking down all enemies on, above, and
below it. It is auto-hit, has medium duration, doesn't require line
of sight to place, has a large area of effect, and a medium recharge
which makes it available for every fight. Suggested slotting is 1 -
2 additional slots with 35 - 95% recharge.
</p>
Because Earthquake's duration is unenhancable and unaffected by level
scaling, it is very effective immediately and doesn't require many
slots like most other control powers. Because it uses knockdown,
Earthquake is also effective against bosses, making it more useful on
the largest teams. Also, Earthquake may be placed out of line of
sight, so it can be cast in safety from around a corner, thus fully
preventing the alpha strike. Unlike the other Earth Control powers,
Earthquake accepts defense debuff enhancements, which opens the
possibility for slotting various procs.
</p>
Care must be taken when starting a fight with Earthquake, because if
done within line of sight, the retaliation can be quite fierce. Also
there is some terrain, notably underwater, where the quake is not
visible, which can hinder its utility slightly. Even when Earthquake
is active, enemies will attack occasionally, and if they escape or
are pushed off, they will be able to attack again.
</p>
[*]
Volcanic Gasses is a static patch on the ground containing
several pets which apply short holds to enemies in the area, and
provides almost total lockdown. It has a medium recharge, a medium
duration, good accuracy, and a large area of effect. Recommended
slotting is 2 - 4 additional slots with 0 - 40% accuracy, 0 - 40%
hold duration, 60 - 95% recharge.
</p>
Volcanic Gasses is better than the AoE holds available to the other
primaries because its base duration is the same as the maximum
enhanced duration of the AoE holds, and with some duration enhancement
it is able to hold normal bosses on its own. It may be able to hold
more protected bosses (eg Arachnos Spider and Fortunata bosses, some
Longbow Wardens, Cimeroran Traitors) and elite bosses, but certainly
not reliably. Also, even if it fails to hit an enemy the first time,
it will try to hold them again soon. While inside the Volcanic
Gassess, enemies seem unwilling or unable to move.
</p>
Volcanic Gasses accepts hold duration enhancements but their effect
is deceiving, they only increase the overall duration minimally, by a
few seconds at the most, but they do increase its ability to hold
harder enemies such as bosses. Volcanic Gasses' long recharge means
that it is not an every fight power, just like the AoE holds from the
other sets.
</p>
[*]
Animate Stone is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. He has three
attacks, a ranged Hurl Boulder and melee Stone Mallet which can both
cause knockback, and Stone Fist which has a small chance for a weak
stun. All of his attacks have an additional taunt effect.
</p>
Stoney brings additional benefit to his caster by taking some aggro
and some additional damage. He prefers to fight in melee, and will
just use Hurl Boulder once to get get things started. He has
excellent resistances and mez protection, making him the second best
tank pet after Singularity.
</p>
Stoney does not cycle his powers effectively, he will never alternate
Stone Fist and Stone Mallet against a single enemy, instead he
chooses one and uses it repeatedly, significantly reducing his damage
output.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="FireControl">Fire Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Fire has weak control and high damage compared to the other Dominator
primaries. A significant part of Fire's control is caused by chaotic
movement and distraction: fleeing from Hot Feet, burning kneecaps from
Fire Imps, knockback from Bonfire.
</p>
Essential powers: Char, Flashfire, Fire Imps
Disappointing powers: Smoke, Cinders
</p>
Fire Control is an endurance-intensive set, partially due to the ridiculous
endurance cost of Hot Feet, and partially due its tendency to scatter
mobs, and consequently reduce the effectiveness of AoEs. However, Fire
Imps will help the endurance situation significantly, their damage is
typically sufficient for the solo Dominator, who can focus more on
control, or just sit back and relax.
</p>
Fire Control is slightly disadvantaged against flying enemies, because
Flashfire can only target grounded mobs and Fire Imps have no ranged
attack. For this reason the Fire Control Dominator will need a plan for
dealing with flying enemies. Possible approaches are: use Ring of Fire
or Fire Cages to ground enemies; jump or fly and ground enemies with Air
Superiority or Hot Feet; take the fight to the sky with Group Fly, making
Fire Imps effective.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Ring of Fire is a typical single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. It does
provide somewhat more utility for Fire Control because it can ground
fliers so they can be subject to other powers such as Flashfire and
Fire Imps. Fiery Embrace from the Fiery Assault secondary might make
it a bit more tempting as a damage power too.
</p>
[*]
Char is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. It's got a
fast activation which is very handy, but a very subtle visual effect
which often doesn't occur, and is very hard to see when it does.
</p>
[*]
Fire Cages is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. Much like
Ring of Fire it may be more useful for Fire Control because of the
needed ability to ground fliers. It can also provide some AoE damage
for Fiery Assault Dominators with Fiery Embrace.
</p>
[*]
Smoke is a targeted AoE accuracy and perception debuff which
doesn't cause aggro. It has a very low accuracy debuff, fast
recharge and long effect duration. Affected enemies' perception is
greatly reduced, but not to zero. It is autohit in PvE but requires
an accuracy check in PvP. Once fighting has commenced it has very
little effect. Suggested slotting is 0 additional slots with 30 -
40% recharge.
</p>
Smoke can be used as a stealth power, allowing travel past enemies,
or easier manouvering for initiating combat. Since it doesn't cause
aggro, it can also be used as a way to build Domination without
alerting the enemy. On a well orchestrated team, it can be used when
multiple groups of enemies are too close together, to keep one group
out of combat while the other is engaged. Smoke is also very
compatible with stealth powers, and can be used close to an enemy
without alerting them.
</p>
Smoke does not help in splitting up a single spawn of enemies, in
fact it may even make this more difficult, and it also tends to draw
aggro to the caster when combat starts.
</p>
[*]
Hot Feet is a PBAoE toggle which causes enemies to take
damage, flee and move more slowly. It has an extreme endurance cost,
low damage, average accuracy and a large radius. The flee and slow
effects are auto-hit, so the accuracy enhancements only help with
damage. It is primarily a control power, since its damage is small
compared to that of the assault powers. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5
additional slots, with 80 - 95% endurance reduction, 0 - 50%
accuracy, 0 - 95% damage, and 0 - 70% slow.
</p>
Hot Feet is an effective control power, and provides decent damage
mitigation through the combination of its flee effect and slow. The
damage is noticeable, but not spectacular compared to the assault
powers.
</p>
Hot Feet cannot be left on permanently due to its extreme endurance
cost, but it also has an annoyingly long recharge and activation
times. It might be feasible to run permanently using Stamina and one
or two of Consume, Drain Psyche, and Power Sink.
</p>
[*]
Flashfire is a targeted AoE disorient, which can only target
grounded enemies. It has a large area of effect, poor accuracy,
medium recharge, short disorient effect, and minor damage. It is
Fire Control's best fast recharging AoE power, making it the basis of
AoE control. Suggested slotting is 5 additional slots, with 70 - 80%
accuracy, 70 - 95% disorient duration, and 35 - 80% recharge.
</p>
Flashfire has a very large area of effect for a control power, only
matched by Stalagmites from Earth Control. It is definitely the
most useful of Fire's AoE controls. Many people find that it is even
more effective when combined with Fire Cages, to prevent mob scatter,
although this is certainly not essential.
</p>
The short duration of Flashfire makes it quite frustrating until
higher levels when mez duration scales up, and enhancements are
stronger. The fact that it cannot target flying enemies can be a
serious problem on occasion, and means another power should be chosen
to deal with the scenario, possiblities are Ring of Fire, Fire Cages,
Hot Feet, Air Superiority. Its recharge is unfortunately just a bit
too long, meaning it may not be ready for the beginning of every
fight, especially on fast moving teams.
</p>
[*]
Cinders is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. However, it's
a PBAoE power, not a ranged one, and has the same terrible visual
effect as Char. With Fire's weak control Cinders is probably more
welcome than some of the other AoE holds.
</p>
[*]
Bonfire is a placed power which causes strong knockback. It
has low damage, a decent duration, and fast recharge, which means it
is recharged before it expires, even without enhacement. Suggested
slotting is 0 additional slots, with 30 - 40% recharge.
</p>
Bonfire is very effective in many situations, but also mostly useless
in many others. Popular uses are to create a safe location for
ranged characters to avoid melee, to pin enemies against walls, or to
block narrow places like doorways. It can be placed on buff
eminators, such as those used by the Devouring Earth, as well as
Triage Beacon and Spirit Tree. It can pin enemies against a wall in
a state of permanent knockback, even in PvP. It can be combined with
Fire Cages, which prevents knockback, to do some damage.
</p>
Bonfire is extremely easy to misuse. Knockback can significantly
reduce the effectiveness of a teams AoEs, and frustrate melee based
characters. In easy fights, or on effective teams, it isn't very
useful.
</p>
[*]
Fire Imps is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section.
</p>
The Fire Imps do excellent damage, making Fire Control the highest
damaging control set. Their desire to engage unmezzed foes means
that they also do an excellent job of distributing aggro and
protecting their summoner. Their excessive aggresiveness take some
getting used to, but they are quite manageable with some experience.
</p>
Since they only have melee attacks, the Fire Imps are quick to run to
enemies, which can be problematic in some circumstances, and may
require the Dominator to hang back. Unfortunately this limits the
usefulness of Hot Feet, Cinders, and melee attacks in the assault
sets. Favouring unmezzed foes also encourages them to aggro
additional spawns when the current one gets hit by Flashfire.
</p>
[/list]
<h3><a name="GravityControl">Gravity Control</a></h3>
<h4>Overview</h4>
Gravity has weak AoE control for a Dominator primary, and slightly better
single target control, but not as good as Mind Control. Although it
contains an attack, Propel, Gravity does not have superior damage to the
other control sets, because it is a weaker attack than those from the
assault sets. A lot of Gravity's control comes from its pet,
Singularity, and its single target controls.
</p>
Essential powers: Gravity Distortion, Singularity
Disappointing powers: Propel, Dimension Shift
</p>
The biggest problem with Gravity Control is that it has no fast
recharging AoE control before level 26, and instead has two single target
attacks: Propel and Lift. These attacks are weak for Dominators with
their assault secondary, and are only there because the set was inherited
from Controllers. The consequence is that a Gravity Dominator does not
bring much damage mitigation to a teams before level 26. Wormhole gives
Gravity a fast recharging AoE control, but does not bring Gravity Control
up to the same level of control as the other primaries.
</p>
From a solo perspective, Gravity Control can be very effective very
early. Taking only the four single target powers (Crush, Lift, Gravity
Distortion, and Propel) and attacks allows a Gravity Control Dominator to
effectively solo on Relentless even as low as level 12. However, 3
enemies is the limit of this build's control, meaning that it brings very
little support to a team.
</p>
<h4>Powers</h4>
<ul>[*]
Crush is a single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. Unlike the
other immobilizes, it doesn't protect against knock*, so can be used
a lot more liberally. Additionally it includes a powerful movement
slow, which makes it quite useful for PvP, and against enemies with
immobilize protection. For these reasons and because of Gravity's
lack of AoE control, Crush can be quite useful.
</p>
[*]
Lift is a single target attack with guaranteed knockup. It
has medium damage, standard accuracy, and average recharge. It is
useful for short term control against most enemies including bosses.
Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 70% accuracy,
0 - 35% endurance reduction, 0 - 35% recharge.
</p>
Lift is useful for controlling bosses, and other enemies who may be
resistant to hold. It is especially useful in early levels where
hold durations are low, when there are too many enemies to hold, or
holds cannot be stacked on bosses. It can also be useful for getting
enemies out of high places. Lift can be used effectively with Crush,
since it doesn't provide knockup protection.
</p>
Unfortunately for Lift, Gravity Distortion grants knockup protection,
which means that Lift cannot be used to control a boss in between
applications of Gravity Distortion. Lift also compares quite poorly
with Levitate from Mind Control, since it deals less damage, and has
a longer activation time.
</p>
[*]
Gravity Distortion is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. The visual
effect is very poor, it is diffcult to see, easily overridden, and
does not appear consistently. Unlike the other STHs, Gravity
Distortion grants knock* protection, meaning it's a lot easier to
keep your target held and next to you for melee attacks. However the
knock* protection can be problematic against protected foes, like
bosses, since a single application will not hold them, but will
protect them from other control powers such as Lift. Gravity
Distortion also has an effective movement slow, which is useful in
PvP and against tougher foes who are hard to hold.
</p>
[*]
Propel is a single target attack with guaranteed knockback.
It has good damage, standard accuracy, but an excessively long
activation time. It is ok for short single target control. Suggested
slotting is 0 - 4 additional slots with 35 - 70% accuracy, 0 - 95%
damage, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
</p>
Propel has the best attack animation in the game, a random object
appears in the air and flies at the target, falling to the ground
after it hits (or misses), and remains for a long period of time.
Combined with the other single target controls, Propel can make for
an effective control chain. It compares favourably against Mental
Blast, and is not a poor choice for a Gravity/Psionic Dominator.
</p>
Propel's horribly long activation time makes it one of the poorest
Dominator attacks for damage, as well as suffering from the other
problems of long activation, that the caster is unable to react to
other events, and that the target may be defeated by other attacks
before the damage is applied. If it is being used as a control
power, there may be other more favourable options available, such as
Air Superiority, Telekinetic Thrust, or Power Push.
</p>
[*]
Crushing Field is a typical AoE immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. It has the
same benefits as Crush, a movement slow and lack of knock*
protection. Desparation for AoE control can cause the Gravity
Dominator to use this power more liberally than appropriate.
</p>
[*]
Dimension Shift is a targeted AoE phase shift power. Phase
shifted enemies cannot attack and cannot be attacked. It has a
medium duration, average accuracy, and a short recharge. Unlike
other control powers, it cannot be enhanced for duration, but can be
enhanced for magnitude, and with very little enhancement (9.6% is
enough) will affect bosses with a single application. It is not
improved by Domination. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots
with 0 - 70% accuracy and 0 or 35% intangibility.
</p>
Dimension Shift is a very effective emergency power, because it can
completely shut down a spawn, even without Domination being active,
and it recharges quickly, so it can always be available. It is also
unique in that its termination can be accurately predicted due to a
sound effect that plays exactly 13 pulses throughout its duration.
An additional use of Dimension Shift is thinning out spawns, with low
accuracy a portion of the spawn can be phased out, making things
easier for the team.
</p>
Dimension Shift is the most maligned control power because several
factors make it troublesome on teams: phased enemies can be targetted
and attacks can be wasted on them, phased enemies glow brightly
thereby inviting attack and obscuring unphased enemies, and the
duration of the phase effect is fixed, and may require the team to
wait around for enemies to unphase.
</p>
[*]
Gravity Distortion Field is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. It suffers
from the same visual effect issues as Gravity Distortion, and also
grants knock* protection. While it also provides movement slows like
Gravity Distortion, it is not nearly as useful, because large groups
of hard to hold foes are very rarely encountered. The AoE hold is
more highly recommended for Gravity Control than other primaries, due
solely to the fact that it has no practical alternative. Of course
it still won't be usable in every fight because of its long recharge
time.
</p>
[*]
Wormhole is a targeted AoE enemy teleport power with an
additional stun effect and knockback. It has a smallish area of
effect, reasonable range, average accuracy, medium recharge, a short
disorient effect, and a large knockback. It is Gravity's staple
every-fight damage mitigation power. The caster chooses a target,
clicks the power, and then chooses an output location, at which point
the power activates and teleports whichever enemies it hits to the
chosen location, and knocks them back. Suggested slotting is 5
additional slots with 70 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% disorient duration,
35 - 80% recarge, 20 - 60% range.
</p>
Wormhole can be very effective on large teams when combined with
other effects, notably AoE attacks, because it can place many enemies
in a small area. It is a versatile power, with many useful
applications and can greatly increase the safety of a team. For
instance, it can be used to bring stragglers into the main area of
combat, where more tunnel-visioned team members can deal with them.
Line of sight is not required, which means it can be used in great
safety, and with minimal additional aggro effect. It is best
directed into a corner, or directly downwards if flying, in order to
minimize the scatter caused by knockback. The short disorient
duration usually isn't a significant problem, because enemies do not
tend to last long after they are dumped in a corner. Many people
like to combine it with Crushing Field, to prevent mob scatter,
although this is certainly not essential. The output location and
targetted mobs need not both be in range simultaneously, if the power
is activated and the location chosen while the enemy is out of range,
then when the Dominator runs into range of the enemy, the chosen
output location will still be used, even if it is very far away.
</p>
Wormhole's biggest failing is it's small area of effect, which very
often results in spawns being split into two separate groups. It is
also a very difficult power to use, because it requires good
positioning of the caster, the target, and the output location. When
the power activates, any enemies within the area of effect who can
see the caster get a free attack before the power takes effect,
regardless of whether or not the power successfully hits them. The
small area of effect can be extremely frustrating, because it makes
it very difficult to hit every member of a spawn. For this reason,
positioning and line of sight are very important, which means the
power is slow to use. Range is also a factor, but there is no
indication if the targets are within range until the drop point is
selected, possibly necessitating repositioning, which is why range
enhancement is suggested. If Power Boost or Aim is being used to
buff Wormhole, being out of range can be very frustrating, because it
can cause the buff to be lost. Some enemies at higher levels, such
as 40+ Longbow Nullifiers and Malta Gunslingers, are protected from
teleport, which means that Wormhole may stun them, but won't teleport
them, resulting in unfortunate scatter and a split spawn. Once
combat has been initiated it's often inadvisable to use Wormhole,
because it can cause problems for teammates.
</p>
[*]
Singularity is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. Singularity
is the least damage-oriented of all of the pets, and has exclusively
control powers. It is extremly tough, with high damage resistance
and mez protection. Its powers are Crush, Lift, and Gravity
Distortion, as well as Repel, a knockback aura. It is also the only
pet which flies. Suggested slotting is 1 - 5 additional slots, with
35 - 70% accuracy, damage, hold and immob to taste.
</p>
Singularity significantly improves the Gravity Dominator's
survivability because of the added control, and its ability to
attract aggro, particularly with Repel. It can be used to great
effect to take alpha strikes and generally tank, through a number of
means, using stealth powers so that it is seen first, Recall Friend
or summon it into the enemies, or team teleport in together. It will
block any doorways it occupies, since the Repel field will knockback
any enemies.
</p>
Its low damage means that Singularity is not a dramatic increase to
the Gravity Dominator's speed, only their safety.
</p>
[/list]