Well, I have three dominators; ice/ice, plant/thorns and fire/fire. Can you tell I like matching sets? 
Ice/ice has endurance troubles when soloing and it's a bit slow before the pet.
I think plant/thorns would solo really well because confusion speeds things up. I never solo mine, though, as it's a part of a regular duo. The few times I've cleared something up by myself it's been really easy.
My fire/fire is only level 12 but so far it's much better solo than in teams. I soloed my first elite boss at level 9 . The damage is really good for a dom but the control is so far much too weak for bigger spawns in a team setting.
I think mind and grav would also solo pretty well as they have plenty of single target controls with good damage. Basically I would probably go for mind or plant for primary and fire or energy for secondary. Mind and fire probably don't go well together though.
Hi,
as much as ive seen, my grav/psi was hard to solo, until i hit lvl32 and i get my pet.
In that gap (19-30), i would go for */fire. I have a lvl14 fire/fire, and it gonna be really good when i grab Fiery Embrace. If u are planning in solo, i just give u 1 advice:
The spawns gonna be shorts, u will fight 3 (as much) enemies at time, so just dont bother with many AoE control and all of that... Just grabb dmg powers and burn them.
Peace.
How about Mind as a primary. Sure it has no pets and is control heavy but theres a few single target holds / confuses plus the AOE sleep. Sleep is alright when soloing since you should manage not to wake them up.
For secondary I'm not sure. Psi has the recovery power at 20, you could Sleep a bunch and hit them with that, recharging off them as you take them out one by one. But that power works best with more enemies affected so maybe not...
In my view dominator is the hardest AT to solo, with the possible exception of a few types of defender.
I really should do something about this signature.
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Because of the times and duration I usually play (because of Real Life, home and kids!) I find that most of my playing time is spent solo.
I have a very nice plant/thorn dominator who has reached lvl 19 and she is very successful in teams but I would be interested in people's views about whether one can have a successful solo dom at the 19-30 level (I can see that solo is easier post level 32 after big pets appear)
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Yes. Plant/Thorns is, like most dominators, not _easy_ to solo, but between Seeds of Confusion and (at 26) Carrion Creepers, you can do it. Just ensure that your Impale and Skewer attacks are slotted as well as possible. Oh, and you may possibly run into difficulties with any Elite Bosses, but then most ATs do when soloing
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For secondary I'm not sure. Psi has the recovery power at 20, you could Sleep a bunch and hit them with that, recharging off them as you take them out one by one. But that power works best with more enemies affected so maybe not...
[/ QUOTE ]I would not go for /Psi as a good solo set, the end drain power counts as a attack for agro perposes, so it'll probably wake up slept mobs (Although I've not tested this)
The real down side to Psi is that it's big attacks are the last two and before 36 (the lv35 snipe power needs slots) your damage output is quite low.
I think Energy and Fire look far better and they both have a boost power for thoes bosses & Elite Bosses
The energy will boost holds and the fire boosts fire damage.
I'd also go for a mixed set rather than 2 the same, ie plant/fire this way if mob's are resistant to one they're less likely to be resistant to the other.
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For secondary I'm not sure. Psi has the recovery power at 20, you could Sleep a bunch and hit them with that, recharging off them as you take them out one by one. But that power works best with more enemies affected so maybe not...
[/ QUOTE ]I would not go for /Psi as a good solo set, the end drain power counts as a attack for agro perposes, so it'll probably wake up slept mobs (Although I've not tested this)
The real down side to Psi is that it's big attacks are the last two and before 36 (the lv35 snipe power needs slots) your damage output is quite low.
I think Energy and Fire look far better and they both have a boost power for thoes bosses & Elite Bosses
The energy will boost holds and the fire boosts fire damage.
I'd also go for a mixed set rather than 2 the same, ie plant/fire this way if mob's are resistant to one they're less likely to be resistant to the other.
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Drain Psyche does not awaken sleeping foes as I fire it off after applying Flash Freeze (any non damage dealing move with not awaken them - eg Shiver).
Fire/fire or Fire/energy post level 32
As far as damage output goes from the Assault powers it's like this:
Ice/Fire
Thorns
Energy
Psi
I would say Thorns suffers a bit for being probably the slowest to build up domination. I would go with ice or energy for utility - Ice for the -Recharge, Energy for the stuns; both of those also have Power Boost.
I'm level 24 atm wit hmy Mind/Energy and I can say that it isn't hard to solo, think I'm on the middle rep.
Ok more than 3 mobs at a time is a challenge but its doable.
How do you figure Ice being tied for the best damage output? I saw someone post about theoretical DPS on US boards and Ice came on top there but it didn't make any sense to me wrt my in game experience. I thought the damage per attack was a fair bit below Thorns for single target damage when we tested it. The AoEs are decent damage but have long recharges (20 seconds for Ice Sword Circle, 16 seconds for Frost Breath) and are generally not all that economical for soloing.
Ice shines with the activation times on single target attacks, which are very fast. With Hasten and enough recharges slotted you'd probably get very good ST damage output, but that's IMO just not realistic endurancewise, at least not without a huge investment of slots you can't really spare. Endurance is bad enough without Hasten or any recharges slotted in attacks.
At level 40 I can 3-shot an even level minion using my 3 most damaging fully slotted ST attacks. Anything less won't do it. Is this really the best damage dominators can do? The time for that particular chain is 4.73 seconds and endurance used is 31,72.
As far as ice goes, it's the AoEs and fast attacks. I'm the same Vs an even level minion - I need Ripper, Thorn Barrage and Skewer, even with Aim, although apparently in I7 Aim will boost poison damage as well as the lethal which will make a difference. I'm guessing Fire will beat Ice.
That's not very realistic, though. Maintaining that kind of DPS with Ice is such a huge slotting commitment and drain on endurance that I'm pretty sure anyone wanting a damaging secondary for leveling up would be better off picking one of the secondaries that have the more damaging attacks. I do think Ice will be one of or possibly the best secondary for I7 pvp, though.
Hello,
I remember a thread in the US forums where told that fire/ice has aprox. the same DPS output, and surprisingly, after them, there was thorns, energy and psi (in that order)...
That was in I6, and im talkin of this thread:
source
Maybe it isnt a good test, but its a test. BTW, i have been thinkin in this combo:
Fiery embrace + Blazing bolt(properly slotted) = 26,3 BI (hero builder).
Not sure if this could be a 1-shot combo, but this + flares should be 
lol
Peace.
Have found my Mind/Psi solos well on Vicious, did play for a couple of weeks on invincible but that caused problems in teams - was slow solo but certainly doable at arond lvl 20.
When I first picked up mind probe I found I was actually outdamaging the brute in the team without domination up, want to see what the effect of drain psyche is with the Ghost of Scrapyard mobs though and confuse helps to weaken mobs.
Still some bosses that cause problems though where they can 3 shot me and rarely miss and EBs need a lot of care but doable.
Biggest advantage is probably the speed domination builds up - usually just about when my end is almost out so nice timing
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
My lvl 40 mind/nrg now solos very comfortably on relentless (the highest difficulty) after a much needed and very successful respec. Mind has more than enough control to keep a group of 3-6 mobs perma held/slept/confused/levitated while you pound on them. Were i to solo more than i do i would have picked up mass hypnosis, slotted it for duration and used power boost beforehand. This should keep them asleep long enough to pop for a cuppa and still get back in time to kill them
As for the no-pets issue with mind, for me it's a non-issue, i do very well without them (I've had imps, phantasms and animated stone as pets on other toons) as the control is far superior esp in the low lvls but right up to 40. Dominator damage isn't really all THAT bad, it's the staying alive long enough that is difficult, and thats where the extra control comes in.
My typical cycles on a group of 3 mobs would be hit powerboost, confuse one, dominate another and sleep the third. The confused mob will hit the held mob first and not wake up the slept one (clever that) and then if dominate has recharged i hold the confused one to prevent him stealing too much xp, then kill the first held target, then the confused one then the slept one in that order. If ever dominate isn't ready or misses a quick levitate or powerpush gives me all the time i need. This tactic can solo you from 1-40, if slowly, and is ready for every fight where other sets rely on the AoE holds/effects as they only typically get one ST effect.
Edit: I also now have NO endurance issues unless using TK (i run CJ and acro perma). It's amazing what a respec can do
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I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
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And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
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In my opinion, i would go for plant/fire, and I argue this choose:
* Plant/ is the only set made for Dominators, and has a really nice mitigation power called "Seeds of Confusion", wich could help you much soloing. That power added to the rest of the set could make it more soloable.
* /fire coz its the more dmg dealer set. Yep, with Fiery Embrace, you could outdamage many other ATs, and by far, some of us. If u got it properly slotted u could use it like half time (hasten + 3 rech), doing ur life much easier. Also, if u gonna face a boss, u could just wait it become ready, coz its recharge is only time, not the same as domination.
Im lvlin a fire/fire (yeah, for the way FE + fire imps makes me feel), and I have tested the power of FE, and yeah... its awesome
Peace.
I have a fire/fire dom. Once you hit 32 and get the imps, combined with a well honed character and an understanding of your powers, from then on soloing relentlessly becomes the norm. Not much can stand in your way. Though with hindsight I do slightly regret it, I feel that I missed out on content because of the xp bonus.
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes
Fire / Fire.
50s
controllers: Ill rad , grav rad, fire kin, ice kin
blaster: ice em
scrapper: spines sr
Have to agree with some of the others here. Plant/fire would be the way i go if i was wanting to solo a lot.
Plant for Creepers and Seeds and fire for damage. Another nice thing is the Tox damage your pet gives you in plant which very few mobs are resistant to.
ATM ive started up a Fire/Thorn Dominator and im really liking it alot the damage output seems to be very good i seem to be able to solo alot with it so far.
According to my experience Mind/Psi soloes just fine. During the first levels Mind Control has to deal the majority of your damage, but later on Psi catches up. The fact that most enemies can be my "pets" also helps a lot.
There was a time period during the 20s when EB fights could be quite lengthy, but with that much control there really isn´t much they can do against you. Well, EBs with ranged knockback had a chance of breaking Telekinesis before I could stack magnitude on them, but I guess there has to be some challenge...
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
I currently now have a mind/psi dominator.
In the beginning soloing went very slow....damage was lousy.
Then I respecced and took only 2 attack powers (3 because of the 1'st one in psi assault)wich is levitate and mind probe.
These 2 are fully slotted with accuracy and damage.
Soloing is very easy now....even lvl minions are falling like flies.
My suggestion is to work out a couple of good damage skills in the start...then concentrate on control skills after that....at least it helped me alot on the soloing part 
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Jeg lytter til havet, og ser tiden som var.
Jeg snakker med fjell, og tiden st�r stille.
Jeg snakker med meg selv, og tiden g�r.
Jeg lukker et �ye, og ser halvt.
Jeg lukker begge, og ser alt.
La meg ligge...
La meg ligge...
La meg ligge...igjen.
My Fire/Thorns isn't much fun to solo at the mo. Only level 14 though and I hear Thorns is quite a late blooming set with 2 great end powers. Plus Fire Imps at 32 would be great for soloing.
Plus I initially tried a Damage King build with Hotfeet & Firecages. Just gets you killed a lot it seems. I've Freespeced the build and am planning to get Aid Other/Self. Then I reckon it'll be a good late soloer.
Because of the times and duration I usually play (because of Real Life, home and kids!) I find that most of my playing time is spent solo.
I have a very nice plant/thorn dominator who has reached lvl 19 and she is very successful in teams but I would be interested in people's views about whether one can have a successful solo dom at the 19-30 level (I can see that solo is easier post level 32 after big pets appear)