Dominator build that would complement 2 MMs?
By
ChaosExMachina,
Posted on: 2009-07-15 08:46 in Dominators
I'd definitely recommend a dominator over a corrupter for a trio such as you describe.
MMs already bring a good amount of group buff and debuff ability to the table with their secondary sets. They perform well against most enemies. What they really don't deal with well are enemies with effective AOE attacks, and that's where a strong control primary can really synergize your team. Your dark teammate can also take Petrifying Gaze to stack magnitude with your single target hold, which, with the right build, can allow you to hold Elite Bosses.
As for which powersets to pick, my only advice is to pick a primary that can operate well with hover. With two MMs on the board, the ground is going to very, VERY cluttered. Being able to float above that chaos and dispense control will make your life much easier. With that notion in mind, I'd probably recommend gravity control first, since your pet can join you in the air, and stay out of the way of your zombie-gangster cohorts. Mind would also be a solid pick, if you'd prefer to dispense with a summoned pet altogether.
QR
Since MMs are basically teams to themselves, they don't really need you for anything in particular IMO. I think you can feel free to play whatever you like (Corrruptor or Dominator or whatever) and it'll probably work out. Just think up a concept you enjoy and roll with it.
"Hi, my name is Ail. I make people sick."
A partial selection from my 50's on Freedom: Ail = Ice/Traps, Luck = Street Justice/Super Reflexes Stalker, Mist = Bane, Pixy = Trick Arrow/Archery, Pure = Gravity/Energy, Smoke = Fire/Fire Dominator
Plant/Psi or Plant/Electric. Plant is such a great utilitarian set that will compliment any mm sets very well. I just can't recommend plant highly enough in this scenario.
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
Any except Mind I would think. Any secondary, but I think EA or thorns would be slightly more helpful. I like Earth/EA for this.
Dark Bard, Zoobait, Debacle
jmsb
Por vezes d� vontade...
chucknorriss
speak american godamnit
If you do end up playing a Dominator in this combination, I'd vote for an Earth or Plant Dominator. Some of the reasons for playing Plant have already been enumerated. As far as Earth goes, it offers: another very sturdy pet that (I think) has Taunt on its attacks, helping to defend the relatively frail minion-level pets; the ability to keep enemies organized into fairly tight clusters via Quicksand, Earthquake, and Volcanic Gases, making it easier to exploit the various cone attacks from the thugs and zombies; potential for a modest amount of additional AoE damage from slotting procs in the various Earth powers that can take such enhancements; an AoE control available almost all of the time between the trio of powers mentioned above, on top of your hold and whatever you might get out of your secondary; the variety of effects you'd have means that even if an enemy group resists one status effect, you have others at your disposal, although sleep would likely be pretty useless thanks to all the AoE damage that will be flying around, and rather unnecessary regardless.
Earth starts truly maturing right when Masterminds hit some of their worst levels, around 16-18, which will definitely smooth out that part of your careers. It also has substantial -Defense, meaning that the lower level pets won't have any trouble hitting at all, which they sometimes have due to level scaling.
magentrix I think has the right idea. I think gravity as a primary will work well. You're looking to lock down individual annoyances.
Earth would be good for large groups of mobs as well. Two of it's main powers, quicksand and earthquake, recharge rapidly and can be used on every group. Furthermore, you can cast them without LOS. Step around a corner, cast, then let your MM buddies take over.
As for secondary, pretty much any, but energy can be good choice for your situation. Heavy hits, and power boost can be a mini domination button when you have to lock someone down NOW! Realize, power boost doesn't work on several earth powers.
I would say anything but Gravity and Mind are more effective with 2 MMs. Not that Gravity/Mind suck, it's just that Gravity's only good aoe control is Wormhole which won't be available until 26 and the teleport part may mess with pet's AI a bit; and Mind has no aoe immb.
I say Earth is the best choice. Earth has aoe immb, aoe slow and aoe knockdowns. Plenty of controls.
The dominator's job is to quickly hold any critter that can cause serious aoe damage: For example, Longbow Flamethrower. Flamethrower is usually pretty weak against single target but their aoe damage can be really annoying against MMs.
As for Secondary, pets have terrible AI against foes that get knockback. They usually wait a bit and then chase the target that is about to get up (waste of time). For this reason, I would stay away from /Energy (unless you have primary controls that have anti-knockback in them).
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Like, Earth! Mmm, powerboosted -def.
Dark Bard, Zoobait, Debacle
jmsb
Por vezes d� vontade...
chucknorriss
speak american godamnit
I'm liking some of the advice so far:
Hover yes... MMs tend to engage at range and the return fire can be brutal... for the guy standing next to them. Hover will help you with staying away from the kb for instance.
Earth yes... for the reasons mentioned, plus your /dark friend will have Tar Patch. TP + QS = total slow with -DEF and -RES. That right there will keep most foes from ever getting close to you and let you melt them in seconds.
Also, Earth's -DEF will help him hit with Twilight Grasp, Petrifying Gaze, Fearsome Stare.
Also, his rez has an AoE stun, which will stack nicely with Stalagmites for some awesome crowd control at an early level.
And make sure your /pain friend buffs YOU, not his stupid pets. With that in mind, you should take a damaging secondary like /fire or /thorn that also has a good amount of AoE capability. Both have early cones and PB AoEs. Forget /nrg. By the time you run up and Bonesmash + TF someone, they'll all be dead. If you really want Powerboost, I'd go with /ice assault. It gives you the dual AoE attacks of ISC and FB, as well as PB. And you'll have your other 2 swords to do some dmg to hard targets in melee.
Please buff Ice Control.
Hmm I may have to alter my original advice. Earth actually seems like the BEST choice for teaming with 2 MM's. Plant used to be the control monster set, but Earth I think has so much de-buffing capability its kind of the obvious choice. Still Seeds of Confusion is nothing to sneeze at...
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
Earth/Psi. Oodles of def debuff, area denial and Drain Psyche to speed up AV fights.
Earth + Hover = Bad. You must be standing to use Stalagmites, and it's your staple AOE mezz.
Ail's basically correct. Since MMs kind of bring a whole team to the party, and you'll be taking two of them with you, you don't NEED to go with any particular build. Go with what suits you image-wise.
To support MMs I'd consider the AoE immobs with KB protection as the most important. (Earth, Fire, Ice or Plant Control)
The -Def from Earth/ or /Thorny would be second, unless they both take Tactics, which would make it irrelevant.
Third would be Drain Psyche as Min Min suggested.
Depending on playstyle of the team you may want to focus on bosses, or on AoE.
One big issue with Earth is that Stone Cages is a visual abomination and you won't want to spend all of your play time staring at that.
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To support MMs I'd consider the AoE immobs with KB protection as the most important. (Earth, Fire, Ice or Plant Control)
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This.
Plant can summon a lot of creepers so that may add to the madness of such a team.
For secondary probably Psi so that you can do lots of AoE.
Personally I would go with Plant/Psi and hover.
A game is not supposed to be some kind of... place where people enjoy themselves!
A lot of great suggestions in this thread. I ended up picking earth/thorny assault, and so Green Thumbelina was born. I zoomed to 10 in a short time being lacky with my 2 MM buds. The AOE immobilize helps keep the mobs together, so my friends' can smash their faces. My only issue so far is that those baddies who aren't immediately engaged by MM pets do NOT like me when I root them 
.
I do like it so far, but I have a few questions...
1. Does the -DEF from earth and thorns stack? For example, if I put up Stone Cages and then Fling Thorns.
2. Does the -DEF from powers in the same primary stack? For example, if I put up Stone Cages and then Quicksand the group and then Fossilize a guy?
3. I notice it takes multiple applications for my ST hold to take effect on bosses. Is there a way to stack quicker? Or do the other abilities (immobilize) make it easier for the hold to stick?
QR
Yes, the -def all stacks (although there is a cap.)
Yes, you will need a couple applications of the hold to get bosses, unless domination is up in which case one should do it.
No, immobilizes do not make it easier for a hold to stick.
Be judicious with stone cages. Don't put them on when you have earthquake up, as they'll stop the knockdown.
"Hi, my name is Ail. I make people sick."
A partial selection from my 50's on Freedom: Ail = Ice/Traps, Luck = Street Justice/Super Reflexes Stalker, Mist = Bane, Pixy = Trick Arrow/Archery, Pure = Gravity/Energy, Smoke = Fire/Fire Dominator
As far as I know, the -DEF from all your powers stack together. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Your inherent power is "Domination". This is what will allow you hold bosses. It also replenishes your endurance and grants you temporary protection to mezzes. So pay attention to your Domination bar and use it often. Domination builds faster when you're own team. And guess what it counts MM pets as team-mates, so it should build up in as few as 10 attacks. Also the Eventually, I strongly recommend the Lockdown +2 Mag proc. This will help you by giving you a chance to hold bosses even when Domination is down. If it kicks in while Dom is up, you'll have one very powerful hold.
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
It's good to hear this all stacks. As I understand it, your "To Hit" is based off a function of Base To Hit (based on lvl difference of attacker and target) and Accuracy and the target's Defense. Also noting that MM pets are lower level, it just seems that all this -DEF is a good thing and reinforces the notion Earth + Thorny Assault are just going to help my buddies and their pets mow down all the bad guys.
Here's the amount of -DEF I can easily stack according to RedTomax.com (handy website). I believe the "does not stack" remark just means the power can't stack on itself, but they should all stack together.
Quicksand
Defense -0.25 for 0.45s
Effect does not stack from same caster
Stone Cages
Defense -0.2 for 12s
Effect does not stack from same caster
Fossilize
Defense -0.2 for 12s
Effect does not stack from same caster
Stalagmites
Defense -0.2 for 12s
Effect does not stack from same caster
Thorny Darts
Defense -0.15 for 5s
Fling Thorns
Defense -0.15 for 8s
Earth/Thorn is the -DEF king. That's the principle behind my current CoT theme dom.
Another power to throw out there that has huge -DEF is the PB AoE Thornburst. In game numbers have it at -30% base.
I highly recommend you put as many dmg procs as possible in your powers, and trust me they can take a ton of them. The Lockdown chance to hold is marvelous in VG.
Oh, and with 2 MMs and all their pets, you'll build domination as if you were teamed with 14 teammates (MM pets count for dom building).
Therefore, USE DOM ALL THE TIME WHENEVER IT'S UP. Because you can rebuild it in just a few attacks. The only thing stopping you will be recharge. So at the least, take Hasten. And just slotting a few IO sets should easily get you another 20% rchg with hardly trying. Then, you can hit your base and craft a recharge empowerment buff for another 20%.
Please buff Ice Control.
Hmm...Dominators could really use a -RES set.
Save that, with that combo I'd probably go for sets with -DEF as many others here have advised.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
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Earth/Thorn is the -DEF king. That's the principle behind my current CoT theme dom.
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I too have an Earth/Thorny CoT-themed Dom.
Grav --> Wormhole and MM's are just too sweet
Add to that the flying Sing.
Earth/Fire Strong holds, no need for ACC slotting means Fire gets more damage and recharge... which is never bad.
I posted this recently on the MM forum. I didn't get a lot of responses, so I thought I'd try tossing it here. Recently picked up this game again, and two friends and I are playing villains on Virtue. My friends play Thugs/Pain and Necro/Dark MMs, and I'd like to find an AT that would allow us to just tear it up. So far, I'm experimenting with a Fire/Storm Corruptor with mixed results. Damage good. I do get a lot of aggro though. However, I could see where a dominator might be effective. I guess I'm trying to weigh if I should give up the DPS and awesomeness of storm for more control or not. However, I do have snowstorm and will have freezing rain soon--that may be all the control I'd need. Or maybe I should make a x/Storm MM instead. It's not clear to me what kinds of control are needed, when another dps could come and have some control built in.
. I've got only a few weeks, so I'd appreciate the input. Please note we're all doing it "on the cheap". We do not have lvl 50 "mains", so we're using store bought enhancements, etc. (if that matters--some forum posts lead me to believe some builds are more "gear dependent"). I'm still trying to learn, so it would be very helpful for those posting, I'd appreciate it if you could examples of what powers to use during the fight--how the fight would go (for example, sleep seems pointless, immobilize?, confusion?--causes xp loss, etc.). Thanks!
I'd like some advice from those who have been around for awhile