Pain domination. Quality stuff or what?

Hiya readers,

I've been wondering about the pain domination set for corrs. Making a gentle return after a long break I hardly ever see a pain domination corr -apart from the experiments below lvl 6 you see running around in mercy.

Also there is very, very little to be found on the forums. Is this a sign on the wall? Or is it just a case like earth trollers which were pretty rare and then suddenly years later became hot...

What are the pro's and con's of pain domination according to you? I am interested in your opinions and experiences with the set, both from playing it (to reasonable lvl) as well as teaming with pain dom corrs.
How useful you regard the set in a team and when solo?
Looking forward to reading of your reactions soon!

Cheers,
Blue

When solo : great with masterminds, you can keep your pets alive with some practice and makes highest rep missions easy. With a corrupter, its not the best for solo play as very little (especially low levels) effects you.

When teaming: Also great. Not as good as empathy (in my opinion) and you can never have it as a primary, so it'll take a long time for the good healing powers to become available.

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When solo : great with masterminds, you can keep your pets alive with some practice and makes highest rep missions easy. With a corrupter, its not the best for solo play as very little (especially low levels) effects you.

When teaming: Also great. Not as good as empathy (in my opinion) and you can never have it as a primary, so it'll take a long time for the good healing powers to become available.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cheers for the reply Heyman!
Are there any more folks who can say some sensible words about the pain domination set- was thinking more for corrupters then MM's,hence I posted this in the corrupter section.
Any primaries you think it goes well with, or maybe not. How does it affect you. You notice significant difference when playing with a pain cor in comparison with another secondary. Likes & dislikes? Nice surprises or dissapointments maybe?

Have rolled a rad/pain for now at lvl 9 irrc, but will maybe reroll with abother primary.

Hopefully I will team with some pain corrs when playing with some of my high lvl chars, so I can establish a better perspective on the set.

Cheers,
Blue

Long time no see, Blue

in terms of primary, pick something with some nice spike damage, because a good deal of the /Pain powers grant you +dam buffs (the rez, for example). Oddly, the whole set, when teaming, is surprisingly offensively angled.

I wouldn't bother when solo. It's worse then /thermal to solo, as Heyman said, so few of the powers are useful without [Target Ally].

The two auras are nice (Prefer the MM one myself..+regen being nicer than a periodic tick heal), and taking the leadership pool would be recommended.

Mine's only level 12, so am going mainly on the 3 or 4 kicking around when doing MoRSF runs. Painbringer is the nads. That's all you need to know in terms of nice surprises :P.

Disappointments? no RA. Painbringer is the only +endurance recovery technique.

Roll with it, /Pain's a great set, if you ask me. So long as you can wash away any expectations from Empathy or Thermal

I agree that on a MM it is a nice powerset, I can imagine it being faily useful on a team based corr, but not really on a solo one. Really, this has all been said before me though, so i'm not adding much to the discussion sorry

Cheers Xem,
been a long time indeed, but I'm making a slow return to the game, so you'll see more of me soon I think.

As far as primary goes I can imagine sonic or fire complementing well, but I already done two fire/ corrs and one sonic/ (and for some reason I can't seem to come to terms with sonic blast), so I tried rad blast for a change. And this can slot a nice bunch of procs as well. Also gave ice a thought...

Soothing aura values don't really impress me on paper healwiseand also it has got a bit small radius to my taste. +Regen sounds nicer and I guess the power would fit an MM better. Thing is I don't like MM's really, but very maybe I'll give a thugs/pain a try.

Having no RA? I'm absolutely not bothered and as far as expectations to any kind of thermal or emp I don't have at all as I tend to value each set on it's own as a whole.

Ill catch up with you soon,
Blue

I got a level 50 ice/pain very good i thought.

Ice or Sonics would probably be better than Rad. My teen Rad/Pain had a lot of issues getting much too much aggro from the AOEs and thus dying, often thanks to the "Cannot Heal Self" flag the uber-heal gives you for 15 seconds (pity the Heal Aura isn't a Regen one like the MM version, at least you'd keep some form of self-healing with it).

Ice has nice single target damage, slows and the 2 holds to act as mitigation. Plus Ice Storm for when you do want to cut lose with the AOEs.

I know exactly what you mean Carni! Had my rad/pain up to lvl 13 and the last few lvls I had a hard time staying alive due to AoE agro and the heal penalty of share pain. Decided to reroll with ice blast. Although sonic blast should be really good imo, I can't be put up with that again. I don't like the feel of it and the frigging sounds...
Gotta say ice/pain feels very good up till lvl 8 so far.

@Londoner: What do you think of soothing aura?

I think soothing aura is ok, in fact i think the whole set is ok, some people were less happy maybe because they directly compared it to hero empathy?

I dunno, anyway press on with the ice, im sure you will enjoy it.

I have a lvl 18 elec/pain all i can say so far is dont go elec

Elec has same prob as rad blast as far as agro concerned because of AoE's me thinks. Anyways, I deleted it already to free up a slot

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Elec has same prob as rad blast as far as agro concerned because of AoE's me thinks. Anyways, I deleted it already to free up a slot

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You kept the Ice/Pain though didn't you? He worked really well (given the fact I only managed to kill myself once when we PuGed).

If I had an ally Rez which buffed myself I'd have left the silly Fire brute die a lot more

Nope that ice/pain as been deleted as well. Think I got m to lvl 18, but then ditched it. Always been a squishie fan and got quite a few corrs already and too little char slots left, so freed up that slot to try out some brutes and scrappers for a change

Quality Stuff!

I've played an Ice/Pain corruptor up to level 50, and while it was somewhat slow to start, I'm definately having a blast with it now. I also have a level 50 AR/Thermal corr, and much prefer my Ice/Pain

Early on the set feels lackluster, no buffs or debuffs to support the three heals. This is made even worse by fact the Share Pain power prevents you from healing yourself for 15 seconds, which if you are in a situation where you really need to use it you're probably taking damage as well... Anyway, things look a little brighter once you pick up Soothing Aura. Small radius aside, it's quite handy for mitigating DoT's and smaller hits.

Pain Domination really starts to shine at level 28, when you pick up World of Pain. It's a group-wide +res(all), +tohit and +dmg buff rolled into one convenient package. The cooldown is a bit long, but it can be made perma with IO's and hasten relatively easily.
From there it's an easy stroll to level 35 when you pick up Anguishing Cry, -def and -res. While I'd prefer it last longer, or be ranged I found that it's better than the Melt Armor debuff in the thermal set due to the shorter cooldown and larger radius.

... and then there's Painbringer. Nearly 1000% regen (if slotted for healing) and 800% recovery *and* a 50% damage buff make this gem perfect for anyone (invuln brutes being my personal favorite). Only downside is that it has a very long cooldown timer which depending on your build will be difficult to make perma.

Here's the build I'm still gathering IO's for (about 1/3 the way there!):

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Gelas: Level 50 Science Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Ice Blast
Secondary Power Set: Pain Domination
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Decim-Build%(33)
Level 1: Nullify Pain -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(3), Numna-Heal/Rchg(3), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Numna-Heal(5), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17)
Level 2: Soothe -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(7), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal(9), Dct'dW-Rchg(15)
Level 4: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(11), Posi-Dmg/Rng(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13)
Level 6: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 8: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Enforced Morale -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- RgnTis-Regen+(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(25), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(25)
Level 22: Soothing Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(27), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(27)
Level 24: Ice Storm -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Knock%(29), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(31), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(31), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 26: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 28: World of Pain -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(29), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Aegis-ResDam(39), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(46)
Level 30: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(36), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36), ImpArm-ResDam(37), ImpArm-ResPsi(37)
Level 32: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def(33), RedFtn-EndRdx(33), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(34), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Anguishing Cry -- ShldBrk-DefDeb(A), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(39), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(43), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(45), ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(46), ShldBrk-%Dam(46)
Level 38: Painbringer -- Dct'dW-Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal(40), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(40), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(40), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(43), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(42), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(42), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42), ImpArm-ResDam(43), ImpArm-ResPsi(50)
Level 44: Aim -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(45), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Bitter Ice Blast -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(48), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(48), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Conduit of Pain -- EndRdx-I(A)

On a side note, Pain Domination has been the only support set where I'm happy people die. The buff on the rez is amazing

I have an Elec/Pain Dom, and I love it. Right now I built my toon for team support only. When I get to 50, I will respec him to even him out. It will be a sweet set combining Short Circuit and Power Sink, along with Ball Lightning. That way I can support the team by endraining the mobs, coupled with my buffs and healing.

The problem with Pain Domination, is that you chose that set to heal. So as you level you struggle between powers at the trainer trying figure out if you want the other power that will keep your team alive, or do you want to add more damage.

But the cool thing about PD is that, yes it's very similer to Empathy, but the set has a lot potential for your damage output, which frankly I wish Empathy would offer.

I have a sonic/pain at 50 and I think it plays just fine, like others have said, pain is better for teams than solo.

Level 50 Rad/Pain here

Rad Blast: Shoved as many procs in as possible.
Pain Dom: Perma WoP, Perma Cry
Extras: Dark Embrace, Tough

End Result:
Sick Resistances, Major Debuffs, Great Damage, Excellent Support

I always feel somewhat cheated when my corrupter does more support to the team than it does for me. Which is probably why alot of villians don't play pain for long. In villians there is a greater push to be able to solo then team. While heroes tend to team then solo, or never team.

That being said, I have a fire/pain but I like all of my other corr's more (/sonic, /rad, /kin) because they provide buffs to me as well of the team. With the exception of the sonic's shields and toggle.

I dunno I've toyed with an energy/pain corruptor built purely to solo. It only has like 4 powers from pain 6 from energy and a ton of pools but it manages to have perma world of pain

Couple that with the pool and patron shields with a dollop of IO set bonuses on top and you're talking resistances on the order of:
69.4% smashing/lethal
52.8% energy
20.2% negative
25.9% fire/cold
28.9% toxic
24.4% psionic

and some defense equal to:
16.9% melee
27.6% ranged
20.1% aoe

It's almost like being a bootleg invuln scrapper at range only you have psi resistance instead of status protection.

As a solo build it certainly seems impressive survivability wise. Obviously that build would be extremely poor for teaming though but thats what secondary specs are for no?

I have an elec/pain at 47 rite now, i find it to be exceptional solo and teamed. I only have aim, CB, LB and short circuit from elec blast, but the fortunata mistress is extremely helpful, PB it and its a beast.

I do prefer pain dom to empathy due to liking +res then +def, not to mention PD can boast some decently good buffs. 25+ recharge, +dam, +tohit and the heal from soothing aura is awesome as long as you use share pain sparingly.

(He does well in pvp 2)

Got a sonic/pain to 42 and... shelved it because in the end, /pain's not really that good compared to thermal (let alone to empathy, which I'm presuming we'll be able to bring redside in Going Rogue).

What makes empathy a great support set is its buffs, not its healing. But pain, billed as 'villain empathy' got the healing, not the buffs. I think that contributes to its unpopularity. The fact that world of pain only affects teammates (so you can't WOP others at raids...) is pretty craptastic too.

Elect/Pain DomFreedom-lvl 50,

Though I'm not purpled at all yet, I have alot of mitigation w/ power sink and short circut both having end IO sets in them and with the +recharge from a few other sets (can't remember of the cuff which sets) I do a good job sapping. Now that being said yes I can solo as well on villainous to vicious, though as said before Pain Domination does best in teams. Soothing Aura, I do wish it was +regen like the MM version given the Heal/Rez/Buff's supress heals but not so much for +regen. All in all it's a ride to 38 best done in a team or you might give up hope. I would also like to ask some of the Sonic/PD's if they went for the controlish powers. I have thought about rolling one just for siren's song and screech, to make a more survivable solo/team hybrid toon in the 20-40 range.