Striving for Mediocrity - Gravity/Earth - A Journal
By
BlackBellatrix,
Posted on: 2009-10-20 21:55 in Dominators
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If you are going hurdle+superspeed I think combat jumping will be a big win. The extra jump height + the maneuverability is hard to beat, add in the fact that it gives you nearly as good immobilization protection as most brutes have and you can slot a karma -KB in there if you don't have the LOTG and its my favorite pool power. The other powers are all pretty situational - the single target immobilize could be usefull for locking down bosses/EB's/AV's as you can stack it pretty fast but if you do take it I wouldn't slot it up for damage, just use it as an emergency control. Keep in mind that crush does NOT prevent knockback/up - none of gravities immobilizes have -KB in them, only the holds, so if you take crush it is fairly safe to use.
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Originally Posted by MinMin
I think you've convinced me to give Lift some love. When I respec out Propel I'll throw its slots here. The thing that has been keeping me from using Lift is I absolutely loathe the delayed damage, but I can't argue with the maths. It appears to be an excellent attack.
I am curious as to what power I'm going to replace Propel with. So far it's out of these options: 1. Combat Jumping - Spot for a LotG IO as well as combining well with Hurdle and Supersped mobility-wise. Also really good when out of Domination given that the majority of my damage is melee-based. 2. Crush - I'm a fan of ST Immobs, but I question the need given the sheer amount of knockdown I can lay out. The damage is the same as Stone Spears, but the big difference is that I have to take that. 3. Crushing Field - There's all sorts of subtle synergies and situational uses for an AoE Immob, but IMO most of them are highly overrated and smack of desperate justification of a horrible power choice. If I took this it would be an effort to test my opinion. 4. Dimension Shift - You never know, I might develop a strong misanthropic streak. |
Globals: @Midnight Mystique/@Magik13
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These would be my two choices. I've played a Grav controller pretty extensively and on the subject of Crush I'd say it's got a lot going for it. It's fast animating, it takes down fliers and keeps them down and it does pretty decent damage. Also, in case you forgot (which, I'm sure you didn't but for the benefit of other readers) Gravity's Immobilizes do not have -KB which is great for providing excellent mitigation. I know on my controller, in the case of heavy melee hitters like Freak Tanks or Warriors, I'd Hold the first one, and if there was a second, I'd Immob him and use Lift to damage and mitigate his damage. I can see it being even better on a Grav/Earth Dom. Lock out the Lts/Bosses and pound the minions that surround you with your hammers. Cycle Crush/Lift/Spears on a bigger target while hammering the smaller ones near you.
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Originally Posted by MinMin
1. Combat Jumping - Spot for a LotG IO as well as combining well with Hurdle and Supersped mobility-wise. Also really good when out of Domination given that the majority of my damage is melee-based.
2. Crush - I'm a fan of ST Immobs, but I question the need given the sheer amount of knockdown I can lay out. The damage is the same as Stone Spears, but the big difference is that I have to take that. |
Day 17 - Respec and the Night Before
This session was always going to be a short one. The first Tuesday in November is the biggest work day of my year and I need to be at work very early (and every Aussie reading this would now know what industry I work in).
Given that with limited time I'm not going to get a team started anyway, I do the threatened respec and dump Propel for Combat Jumping and slotting up Lift this time. Then I do a bunch of newspaper missions in Nerva and the Independence Port Mayhem. It's a subtle change, but quite effective. Using Lift more works well, and I'm very much trying to get over my dislike of not seeing immediate orange numbers. I'm also very much looking forward to a real AoE control.
Day 18 - Wormhole! Finally ... I still suck?!
Ah, it's not as much a surprise as I make it out to be. I'm L26, with yellow SOs and only one slot in a key power. L27 will make a big difference. But I'm jumping ahead.
With the big race over and all going well (plus I had some money on the winner - yay!), I get to go home a bit early and play for a bit in the late afternoon. Solo only at this point; I'm not a big fan of leaving teams waiting while I sort out kid issues. The afternoon session is enough to let me do all of Darla Mavis's missions, including defeating Aurora Borealis, my first PToD EB on this character. It's actually the end of mission bonus on that one that tips me into L26 and Wormhole.
Later that evening, I grab Doc Buzzsaw's first mission, but before I get to do it, there's a bloke shouting out on the Justice for All global channel about a monster team forming in Sharkhead. Sounds like fun, and it's an area I haven't tested Capella Rising's performance in yet. There ends up being ten of us and in quick succession we take down Eochai, then Scrapyard and then Jack (yes, I know that's incredibly quick to spawn Jack). After all that I head off to do the Ourobouros missions and then I head to bed.
So how did Capella do against the GMs? About as well as any Dominator does really. They pretty much ignore your controls so it's all about damage output. Stone Spears on Eochai-scale is truly ironically awesome; it looks like you've just hit him with some awesome tier 9 power. There was some comments made about the crystal Earth Assault effects as well. I may not have been doing the lion's share of the damage, but I certainly looked like I was, and that's good enough for me 
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The intriguing thing is when you finally get enough controls to stack. Eochai CAN be affected by Lift if this happens...
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Originally Posted by MinMin
So how did Capella do against the GMs? About as well as any Dominator does really. They pretty much ignore your controls so it's all about damage output.
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Day 19 - What could go wrong?
I really dislike levels ending with a 1 or a 6. They almost make me want to waste the relatively limited playing time I have by crafting IOs 10 levels or so before it makes sense to do so. This evening things are a tad rocky.
I start with catching a RWZ raid for which I bring along my Vanguard clotheshorse character (a L44 Mind/Elec Dom). The raid is highly successful from a merits point of view and the character now only lacks the belt before her costume is complete. (Currently has the gloves, shoulderpads, face detail and boots). After that I move on with Capella Rising and through the Doc Buzzsaw missions, which prove to be a source of frustration.
In particular one of her early missions has me taking on the Legacy Chain and it's in a warehouse map that has a (thankfully) rare triple spawn point. So I'm facing 8-9 yellow and orange Legacy Chain Kaolin of Earth. If I was smart, I would have just whacked on Super Speed and completely bypassed them. However, I'm playing a Gravity Dom, so I'm demonstrably not smart. I started by hitting Domination and Power Boost and Gravity Distortion Field while keeping an eye on duration. I manage to hammer down 2 Kaolin before the rest look like waking up so I throw a Wormhole around a corner and attack what's left. Well, that was the plan. What actually happened was that Legacy Chain uber-magic sneered at the power of Gravity and a very large number of rocks appeared over Capella's head.
Unfortunately even after I rezzed, the missing streak continued and I ended up coming back from hospital and pulling the mobs in 1s or 2s. This is strategy I would normally use 10-15 levels earlier, not at L26 and not against only yellows and oranges. I remind myself that I'm deliberately playing a gimp here and it's a tough level anyway, so I'm ok.
The next big challenge of the evening comes with "t3h S00p4rFr34k!". Nothing to do with my build this time; I just happen to miss two Gravity Distortions in a row while out of Domination. Against an ordinary Freak Tank, that's painful. Against an Elite Boss variant it's kind of fatal.
Finally I get to do Buzzsaw's last mission with the three Freak Tanks with Liliaceae trailing along with his brand new Plant/Earth Dom. This is a lot of fun, and with the both of us on damage output, GDF and Wormhole get a workout and I get a lot more confidence in my team performance. Wormhole will be brilliant once I get some more slots in it.
Can you elaborate a bit on how Wormhole works? I've never seen one in action and from the description, I can't tell if teams would love you, hate you, or even wait for you to use it...
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Certainly. |
Originally Posted by Graile
Can you elaborate a bit on how Wormhole works? I've never seen one in action and from the description, I can't tell if teams would love you, hate you, or even wait for you to use it...
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You need to have an enemy targetted. Then you activate Wormhole and you get a location target circle. Once you choose the location target you go into the hellishly long Wormhole animation. Once the animation resolves whatever mobs are within the wormhole radius of the original mob target get a to-hit roll made against them and if they are hit then they are teleported to the location target and stunned for the stun duration. I think there's also a minor knockback component on them as well.
There's a few problems with it. Firstly the wormhole radius is very small, so your chances of getting the whole group is not large. One of the reasons I never notice the knockback component is I'm usually only hitting about two thirds of the group anyway with the rest of the group charging from wherever they came from. So it's basically a chaos causing agent.
Also, the range isn't great, and I'll freely acknowledge that I need to get better at using it, but I'm finding I get whacked a bit during the setup and long animation.
As to whether a team would want you using it? It's one of those powers that you need to announce if it will affect the team. If most of the group is going to be 50' away after a Wormhole and you didn't tell anyone, then that's pretty poor teamplay on your part. For PUGs and people you know aren't going to handle Wormhole then I recommend you put the output location right on top of the target group. The stun effect will still take place.
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Wormhole is a enemy centered AoE attack that teleports any enemies hit by it to a location you designate. Once there, they are hit with a fairly decent Stun.|
Originally Posted by Graile
Can you elaborate a bit on how Wormhole works? I've never seen one in action and from the description, I can't tell if teams would love you, hate you, or even wait for you to use it...
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So, a team could love OR hate it OR both, depending on who you team with, and how big of an idiot you might be. If you teleport a group across the room, and sing "It's raining men!" as they scatter from the cieling... you will have an angry team. If you use the power to collect a spawn and stun them, placing your target area near to a tank or perhaps on an ally's Ice Patch, your team will surely love you. I have also used it to gather 2 spawns together if the team is really rolling.
As to whether or not your team will wait for it? Probably not. Though there was a */Storm Troller friend of mine who would wait to place his locational AoEs until AFTER I WH-ed a spawn someplace. That tactic worked swimmingly.
[Edit: Dang, you beat me to it.]
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I never understood why all the other AoE stuns are a 25 foot radius, but Wormhole was only 15 feet. When it first changed to its current version, I was just so happy they made it AoE instead of single target and that they added the stun, I didn't realize how small it was.
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Originally Posted by MinMin
There's a few problems with it. Firstly the wormhole radius is very small, so your chances of getting the whole group is not large.
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Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
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Gravity is a set where the staple soft control doesn't come until level 26 and where a staple soft control should be you get Dimension Shift. On top of that you get a horrible ranged attack in an AT that just doesn't need it and one of the slowest animating single-target holds that Doms get. To round out the package it also gets the latest version of a Dom AoE Immob and no way to mitigate the aggro it causes until L18 and Gravity Distortion Field ... and that doesn't work either. |
Originally Posted by StratoNexus
I never understood why all the other AoE stuns are a 25 foot radius, but Wormhole was only 15 feet. When it first changed to its current version, I was just so happy they made it AoE instead of single target and that they added the stun, I didn't realize how small it was.
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Of course Wormhole is only going to have a 15 foot radius! Otherwise Gravity Control might have a redeeming feature ...
Day 20 - Maintenance
I do get on ... 5 minutes before Maintenance and about 15 minutes afterwards. As I was very close to L27 at this point the one mission I do brings up 27 and I spend my remaining time outfitting with L30 SOs.
Day 21 - Bat'zul!
I spend my first 20 minutes of this evening doing newspapers and a mayhem to unlock another Nerva contact, but after all that's done I'm wanting to do something a bit more interesting, so I gather some VG mates and we line up the Virgil Tarikoss SF.
We have two L15 Widows, a L50 Thugs/Pain MM and Capella Rising now L27. One of the Widows and the MM have never done this SF before so I elect to go slow. There's a few lessons learned on this one.
Firstly, of that group above, I wouldn't have picked the Dom as the alpha-striker, but in nearly every case that was how we would play it. Typically this would involved a Domination or Power Boost enhanced GDF, but this was down as often as up, so a typical alpha strike for me would involve holding or lifting the boss and then target-switching like heck. The Pain MM saved my butt more times than I could count, but at least at L20 a mostly single-target Dom could be the tank (at least until the Widows stole all the aggro).
Secondly, Gravity is very hard to see, even with bright power customization. When the team goes up against Infernal we get the comment "Is he just going to stand there?" I'm thinking, while queuing up yet another layer of Gravity Distortion, "Yes. Yes he is". Some of the team really has no idea what I'm actually doing there ...
Finally, and not related to Grav/Earth, Virgil Tarikoss is a superb SF. I've done it so many times that I could do it in my sleep, but I highly recommend doing it with players who've never done it before. It's a great thing to see through new eyes.
At the end of all that I'm approaching L28 and Seismic Smash ...
I love the journal. It seems we are pacing along nearly equally with our Grav/Earth Doms, though I believe I've made some great choices along the way, and have kept my Desert Fury toon rolling nicely. You're a bit ahead of me right now - I just dinged 24 and am picking up Power Boost, though for the life of me can't figure out what will be boosted, or why I even want to pick it up. But nothing else sounds remotely correct to choose at this point otherwise. Any thoughts on Power Boost?
I'm used to the constant target switching, and I agree with the melee awesomeness - I took Air Superiority as yet another mitigating close-range attack - but the one thing I can't abide in the build is the inability to use Stone Spears while in the air. Ah well.
Here's what I've picked up on my way, and am quite happy with. Though I have no idea what I'll pick up next. I was going to stay away from Wormhole, but maybe an AOE stun (which now has the advantage of Power Boost), is a better way of thinking of the power.
Keep up the good work. I've made it to 50 on other Doms, but the awesomeness of SMASH despite the build's quirks is grinworthy enough to keep me rolling on this toon. That, and I love the concept.
Cheers.
01: Stone Spears
01: Lift
02: Gravity Distortion
04: Stone Mallet
06: Tremor
08: Swift
10: Air Superiority
12: Hasten
14: Health
16: Fly
18: Gravity Distortion Field
20: Stamina
22: Heavy Mallet
24: Power Boost
Re: Power Boost
At this point I'm using it pretty much every time it's up and I want to use either Wormhole or Gravity Distortion Field. Longer holds and longer stuns are good things. Later on, if I go that route, Power Boost + Aid Self is a nice combo.
Re: Wormhole
Yes, it's primarily an AoE Stun. That's why most people refer to it as Gravity's signature soft control. The group TP Foe effect is nice, but it's not the point of the power. Take it. Unfortunately it may be close to being Gravity's best power.
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I did the Tarikoss for the first time ever the previous weekend--the same day that the leader's level-lock was patched in (surprise!). Let's just say it was slow-going locked at 18 with lvl 15 IOs as enhancements and lots of Spectral Demons as opponents, and as four toons that we couldn't take down Ba'atzul (not sure if the new rules meant he was +2 to us, or if he automatically conned to our level).|
Originally Posted by MinMin
Finally, and not related to Grav/Earth, Virgil Tarikoss is a superb SF.
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Our Mind/Earth dom was certainly the linchpin in beating Infernal, though we wished we had saved him to help with Ba'atzul.
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Originally Posted by MinMin
Secondly, Gravity is very hard to see, even with bright power customization. When the team goes up against Infernal we get the comment "Is he just going to stand there?" I'm thinking, while queuing up yet another layer of Gravity Distortion, "Yes. Yes he is". Some of the team really has no idea what I'm actually doing there ...
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Day 22 - OMG, the Rikti, they're Purple!
Capella gets a good workout on Lt Demitrovich's missions and I solo through most of them this evening. Later on I get asked to join a team running missions in the RWZ, so I give that a go.
The team is being led by an MM, and we quickly pick up a Scrapper, another MM and a Tank buddy of mine. The missions are tough going. As normal with MMs he's got his difficulty cranked and the mobs are alternately red minions + purple lieutenant + bosses and all purple. My AoE controls are not hitting much and when they do they don't last for long, but at least until the Tank got there they were good enough to take the aggro. Wormhole proved very useful for dropping more mobs on the Tank which I'm sure he appreciated and I also tried the Wormhole to the same spot trick which had mixed results.
Another annoying issue was with the Rikti Monkeys. The team was very light on AoE damage so these were quite a problem. I have none at this point and was constantly hit with the decision of whether to "waste" an AoE control on groups that were mostly Monkeys ...
Overall, I was quite happy with the performance of Capella Rising here. She only bit the dirt a couple of times, and during the entire thing I was having a fairly heated conversation about Soldiers of Arachnos with the Tank player (I like them, he doesn't) and the whole PUG was still moving along quite well with the two of us leading most fights.
Anyway, with high level mobs, much XP was gained and I was half way to L29 before the end of the evening. L28 was predictably Seismic Smash.
Day 23 - On and off
One of those days where I'm on and off all day but never for very long. I finish off the Ourobouros missions as well as the last couple of Lt Demitrovich and I start on Diviner Maros. Seismic Smash proves its worth and when I eventually ding 29 it really becomes a force to be reckoned with.
I do have one aesthetic issue at this point though:
Stone Spears ... SMASH.
Stone Mallet ... SMASH!
Heavy Mallet ... SMASH!!
Seismic Smash ... um ... where's the SMASH ... there should be a SMASH!!!
Can't argue with the maths; the numbers DO look impressive. But where's my SMASH sound effect and the screen shake?! One of the main reasons I've got this far is the sheer visceral pleasure of the Earth Assault melee powers, and this one is a big disappointment on that front.
So I'm heading towards 30 (albeit slowly, I think I'm 2 bubbles in), but at this point I'm not sure what to take at that level. I'm tossing around Crush, Crushing Field, Dimension Shift (ha!) and the Medicine or Teleport pools. If I take Medicine I'll probably skip Mud Pots, but I'm thinking I want to take it to see if I can make it work as a Proc holder.
That's a fun and entertaining read, thanks for writing this
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As one thought, crushing field might pair up nicely with mud pots. Crushing field will reduce the tendency of mobs to wander when stunned (less "mud in your eye" for mobs if they wander) or to saunter on up to Capella and muss up her hair and her boulder-throwing technique, if they're not stunned or held. Plus, crushing field plays very nicely with fissure and, if you ever decide you'd like to try it, with tremor. |
Originally Posted by MinMin
Day 23 - On and off
One of those days where I'm on and off all day but never for very long. I finish off the Ourobouros missions as well as the last couple of Lt Demitrovich and I start on Diviner Maros. Seismic Smash proves its worth and when I eventually ding 29 it really becomes a force to be reckoned with. I do have one aesthetic issue at this point though: Stone Spears ... SMASH. Stone Mallet ... SMASH! Heavy Mallet ... SMASH!! Seismic Smash ... um ... where's the SMASH ... there should be a SMASH!!! Can't argue with the maths; the numbers DO look impressive. But where's my SMASH sound effect and the screen shake?! One of the main reasons I've got this far is the sheer visceral pleasure of the Earth Assault melee powers, and this one is a big disappointment on that front. So I'm heading towards 30 (albeit slowly, I think I'm 2 bubbles in), but at this point I'm not sure what to take at that level. I'm tossing around Crush, Crushing Field, Dimension Shift (ha!) and the Medicine or Teleport pools. If I take Medicine I'll probably skip Mud Pots, but I'm thinking I want to take it to see if I can make it work as a Proc holder. |
Random thoughts, hopefully helpful and with a full money-back guarantee -- If you're not satisfied I promise to pay back everything I've received for this advice ten times over, in fact!
PS: I always focus on the overhand double-fistiness and the earthy stuff that emerges on my dom's arms, plus the big jump downward in mob health, when I use seismic smash. I had never noticed the lack of screen shakes before. I'm not sure whether to recommend the same approach I'm taking so you don't feel the lack of SMASH so acutely, or to feel a little silly that I never noticed the lack of screen shakes before you pointed it out.
Day 24 & 25 - Not much happening
Various things IRL prevent me from getting on for long either day.
While I am on, I get Capella Rising through the Diviner Maros arc with only the final mission to complete. That means that I've had to defeat Metal Shift twice and it would be fair to say that I found that very hard going. His regen rate is only slightly outpaced by Earth Assault damage output, and when not in Domination, misses with Gravity Distortion are unforgiving.
I'm quite concerned about Calystix. I might need to actually bring a team for that one; which is yet another sign for me that this character is sub-par. Most of my Doms don't have an issue with the EBs in this arc.
Something that Min Min hasn't mentioned is that Capella is a very messy person. Here's what it looks like when we're done fighting Eochai. They had clean-up crews in the Hell Forge for a week after that.
That's hilarious. My graphics settings are set to performance so I don't get to see that.
Then its time to upgrade your GPU Min.
An ATI 5770 can be gotten for approx $200.
An ATI 5750 for $170
An ATI 5850 for $350
(NOTE: ATI rules right now with NVidia's offerings old and their price/perfomrance ratio not as good as ATI. Or wait 4 months and see what the Green Gobiln releases 
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Unless your running on a laptop in which case its time to upgrade (*cough*replace*cough*) the laptop - lol.
But yes fighting Eochai you made a huge mess although to was fun to play "pink stone soccer" with the rubble you left behind.
Pure <>
On the other hand, the pink breadcrumbs were very useful when we got lost in Calystix's caves the other night.
I am curious as to what power I'm going to replace Propel with. So far it's out of these options:
1. Combat Jumping - Spot for a LotG IO as well as combining well with Hurdle and Supersped mobility-wise. Also really good when out of Domination given that the majority of my damage is melee-based.
2. Crush - I'm a fan of ST Immobs, but I question the need given the sheer amount of knockdown I can lay out. The damage is the same as Stone Spears, but the big difference is that I have to take that.
3. Crushing Field - There's all sorts of subtle synergies and situational uses for an AoE Immob, but IMO most of them are highly overrated and smack of desperate justification of a horrible power choice. If I took this it would be an effort to test my opinion.
4. Dimension Shift - You never know, I might develop a strong misanthropic streak.