Well, some of it was the mission. Lost bosses tend to be mezz resistant, and Kadabra Kill is somewhat mezz resistant too and can be pretty obnoxious if you don't lock him down or kill him fast. I generally do the two missions of Darrin Wade's that involve them with bosses turned off. Especially the mission you are mentioning, which has multiple bosses and two encounters with two bosses. As for Domination; generally it's something I save until I meet a Boss; not something I try to use every fight. You can build it up by holding a minion or Lt and spamming weak attacks and the hold, by the way.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Cool, thanks for the quick response! Now that you say part of it was the mission, I don't feel so bad about having such a rough time with it. 
I'll try that out on my next dominator. As for Domination, I use it the same way, but it seemed there was a mez-resistant lieutenant or boss guarding each hostage. At one part, there are three of the hostages each being guarded in an open cave, one of them having being the disgruntled lich.
Wow thats alot.
First off, i was not terribly impressed with electricity. I know many liked it, but IMO it was kinda blah, no matter what numbers said.
IMO a dominator is much stronger a solo player then a controller. Yes you can nerf the ability to be attacked with a controller, but especially at level 24 you would be killing things forever, or relying on vet powers and attacks and such until level 32.
If i recall lost bosses do have a higher resistance to holds stuns etc then normal bosses. So it might just be the mission, try taking the same toon at the same level and difficulty off on a paper mission of a common enemy type, like council or family or freaks and see what happens. Also keep in mind that Earth provides alot of ability to stay out of line of sight.
So you might also try keeping around a corner dropping a QS to trap an enemy in a certian place, then hit earthquake and start stacking the holds and build up duration and mag while they are being knocked down. This works well when you get volcanic gases as well. Also keep in mind playing a dom is gonna be slightly different then a controller. Where controllers get random overpower, dominators get to choose when and where to use that domination. Dont waste it just popping it cause its ready. Keep it for boss mobs. Not only will it boost your mag, but it also grants free status protection, which keeps you on your feet an awake during tough encounters.
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I personally found no problem maintaining an attack chain with /fire. I did a fire/fire and a earth/fire and found it acceptable. Keep in mind your level 24. You just barely hit SO levels, and still probably havent earned half the slots you will end up with by the level cap. Slot are hard to come by for all toons at this level, but you are earth. Almost all the powers in earth debuff defense in some way, even just QS which is almost always up, will help you until you get the ability to slot that second accuracy.| Fire Assault- Not resisted very ofted, but it seems sort of slow. Flares (3 second recharge), Incinerate (10 second recharge), Fire Breath (16 second recharge), then fire blast (8 second recharge). Does this make for an okay attack chain? Also, and this goes for all sets: I'd love to slot recharge, but it seems I barely have room for the standard 2 Acc and 3 Damage. Sometimes, like in the case of my Earth/Electricity, I had to settle for only 1 Acc 3 Damage for each attack. What is the correct way to do this? |
But if your attacks at level 24 are all 4 slotted already how is that leaving your controls? By level 24 i would personally have been making sure i had hasten and 3 slots on it, stamina 3 slots in it, and atleast my Single target hold 5 slotted, and for earth i would say some recharge atleast in earth quake and stalagmites decently slotted.
The thing to remember is that with a controller you said you would be able to debuff them into nothingness. You would do that by slotting your radiation powers or your debuffs in any set. If your have concentrated more on the assualt powers on a domiantor and lightly slotted controls, this might be a problem. Keep in mind you can take your time killing something, if its controlled. Your controls are your defense iwth a dominator.
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| Psychic Assault- I don't like the feel of this set, but even then, I've heard that Psi damage is one of the top most highly resisted damage types out there |
Thorny and ice assualt i havent cared for.
Earth i have one, but its not wowing me, but its fun since i like having matching sets for theme.
If your going to start a new one, i say try earth/fire. Earth has IMO one of the best aoe holds in the game, and there is nothing like dropping down a QS, leading a mob into it and dropping volcanic gases all from the saftey of a corner, then just running into a held group and hitting some decent AOEs on them. You also get consume earlier then waiting for a patron end regen tool, which allows you perhaps to save off on using domination as much and allows you to use it when you really need the control, status protection etc.
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This is very good advice.|
Originally Posted by QuiJon
By level 24 i would personally have been making sure i had hasten and 3 slots on it, stamina 3 slots in it, and at least my Single target hold 5 slotted, and for earth i would say some recharge at least in earth quake and stalagmites decently slotted.
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The mission you're doing is a tough one for Doms, but it's also a good yardstick. If you can handle two Bosses at once with one of them being a relatively mez-resistant Lost Boss, then there isn't too much in the game short of the PToD that will give you trouble.
When taking on one of these tougher missions I strongly recommend loading up on Lucks and popping a couple before each dual boss fight. Then you can concentrate on giving one of the Bosses a good whalloping while basically ignoring the other one. If Domination is up you should be able to alternate your ST Hold (which should be 5 slotted including some recharge and hold duration) between them while beating down one at a time.
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It's not commonly resisted; there are relatively few mobs in the game that have psi resistance (or psi defense for that matter). But when it's present, psi resistance is usually high in comparison to other resistance values.|
Originally Posted by QuiJon
Psi isnt highly resisted
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That being said, there's a certain satisfaction in finally turning the tables on those damned Spectrals. (They have close to 50% resistance to smash/lethal, but they're actually vulnerable to psi).
I've had trouble with this mission too. I have a dominator for each primary set and the only one I completely failed doing this one with is my fire/fire. I haven't done it with my ice/icy yet but I suspect she'll fail even worse with it. I think I even managed to do it without dying with my grav/energy.
Yeah, Kadabra Kill is a major pain, especially the mish with the Lost boss. Pretty sure I ended up skipping it with my Plant/Thorn, who has pretty much been able to handle everything solo since (well, on +0/x2/bosses anyway). Maybe if I tried enough times making sure I had domination up and survived long enough for KK to summon the Singy for me to confuse it...wasn't worth finding out.
He ripped through my Merc/Poison MM too.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
Thank you all kindly for the advice. From what's been said, I think I should've beefed up my Fossilize a bit. I will apply this knowledge on my new character.
The other thing that noone else has mentioned yet is that outside of domination the duration of your controls is shorter than that of controllers. That means that Doms have more issues than controllers when facing tough opponents outside of domination.
This is especially true in the case of AoE controls in the lower levels of the game when you are slot poor. The AoEs have the same lower base accuracy that you are used to with controllers but have shorter duration. Using SO only slotting 2 Acc, 2 (mez), 2 Rech gets you enough Acc but doesn't give you as much mez duration or recharge as you may be used to on your controllers and it burns up more end since you haven't the slots to add end red if you want maximum effects from your controls.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Though that is true, a dominator for the most part dishes out much more damage then a controller in that level range (pre pets). So though for this discussion he is using stalagmites, earthquake, and fossilize for the most part. Stalagmites has enough of a duration that if his fossilize was fully being realized with 6 slots he could have the majority of a solo mob controlled by other means by the time it wears off. And in a couple levels he gets Volcanic Gases, which again will help stack up mez IMO much more effeciently then any of the other AOE holds because its duration is 1 minute, and the way it ticks helps keep mez stacked even on bosses. |
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
The other thing that noone else has mentioned yet is that outside of domination the duration of your controls is shorter than that of controllers. That means that Doms have more issues than controllers when facing tough opponents outside of domination.
This is especially true in the case of AoE controls in the lower levels of the game when you are slot poor. The AoEs have the same lower base accuracy that you are used to with controllers but have shorter duration. Using SO only slotting 2 Acc, 2 (mez), 2 Rech gets you enough Acc but doesn't give you as much mez duration or recharge as you may be used to on your controllers and it burns up more end since you haven't the slots to add end red if you want maximum effects from your controls. |
You cant fight single mindedly as a dom. It just isnt effeicent. Even with the higher damage, you have an active defense by way of holds, stuns, etc. A typical dom fight solo, is much different then say a blaster or scrapper or brute. Where they might pick a hard target and hammer away until that target is dead, and then move on to the next, a dominator should be probably slapping down an AOE control, then hitting that harder target with a single target control, then attacking others in the mob and switching between applying controls around the mob and inflicting damage as he goes inbetween times. Focusing on one target alone solo, especially as this particular level, is going to be problematic on any dominator.
For a dominator my best suggestion is to movie bar fight. Dont go in and just pick the tough dude and ignore his buddies at the bar, you have to fight them all at once, cycle between enemies, apply a hold, attack the next target, then hold him, then move to the next target attack him, then hold him, then go back to the original target etc etc.
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Yes it is, 35+. Nearly every enemy group has at least one enemy that's highly resistant to Psi (be it a 5th / Council robot; Carnies and their overall Psi defense, 75% psi resistant malta turrets, CoT Succubi, or the truly irritating 50% defense 50% resistance Night Widows).|
Originally Posted by QuiJon
Psi isnt highly resisted, but this is also reflected in the damage the powers do. And i agree with you that Psi took some getting used to. I probably made 3-4 psi toons before i really started enjoying one, and finally took a mind/psi to 50. If you havent tried it since they balanced the set you might give it another try. I think also now that i can color it other then pink, it moved up a bit on my scale also.
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Also, bank doors will be your bane as they're something like 90% psi resistant.
Psi is resisted by fewer mobs then smashing/lethal, to be sure; but the mobs that do resist it tend to do so to an extreme degree and Psi's damage is inherently slightly lower simply because very little in the 35- game resists it.
That said, Psi is still a great set; even better since the Dominator tweaks. In the 35+ game, you'll still generally be ok thanks to IOs--provided you've slotted enough accuracy to deal with mobs with a lot of Psi defense (again, Carnies; Night Widows, CoT Succubi); and have taken TK Thrust to help you deal damage to the ones that are resistant (All robots, and especially those darned Malta gun turrets D: )
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All of which I would call "an issue" when comparing to controllers. For Dominators it balances out in the late game when you have enough enhancement slots but can be an issue in the early game when you are slot poor. That and a lack of powers (both single target and AoE) until late game levels when you get your pets (level 32) to share aggro and level 38 when you get your final attack.|
Originally Posted by QuiJon
Though that is true, a dominator for the most part dishes out much more damage then a controller in that level range (pre pets). So though for this discussion he is using stalagmites, earthquake, and fossilize for the most part. Stalagmites has enough of a duration that if his fossilize was fully being realized with 6 slots he could have the majority of a solo mob controlled by other means by the time it wears off. And in a couple levels he gets Volcanic Gases, which again will help stack up mez IMO much more effeciently then any of the other AOE holds because its duration is 1 minute, and the way it ticks helps keep mez stacked even on bosses.
You cant fight single mindedly as a dom. It just isnt effeicent. Even with the higher damage, you have an active defense by way of holds, stuns, etc. A typical dom fight solo, is much different then say a blaster or scrapper or brute. Where they might pick a hard target and hammer away until that target is dead, and then move on to the next, a dominator should be probably slapping down an AOE control, then hitting that harder target with a single target control, then attacking others in the mob and switching between applying controls around the mob and inflicting damage as he goes inbetween times. Focusing on one target alone solo, especially as this particular level, is going to be problematic on any dominator. For a dominator my best suggestion is to movie bar fight. Dont go in and just pick the tough dude and ignore his buddies at the bar, you have to fight them all at once, cycle between enemies, apply a hold, attack the next target, then hold him, then move to the next target attack him, then hold him, then go back to the original target etc etc. |
This leaves the dom with either holes in the attack chain until late game and full slotting or wasting endurance using an AoE damage power or a high damage/high end cost power to finish off one or 2 nearly dead mobs. The play style is surprisingly different from the controller and can be difficult to adapt to at first.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Indeed. There was much angst over this one in the early days of CoV.
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
The play style is surprisingly different from the controller and can be difficult to adapt to at first.
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the problem is everyone compares them to controllers. They are much more suited to compare to a blaster. And i find them atleast as easy to level to 32 as a blaster and getting pets to be a much better reward then an action stopping nova.
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
All of which I would call "an issue" when comparing to controllers. For Dominators it balances out in the late game when you have enough enhancement slots but can be an issue in the early game when you are slot poor. That and a lack of powers (both single target and AoE) until late game levels when you get your pets (level 32) to share aggro and level 38 when you get your final attack.
This leaves the dom with either holes in the attack chain until late game and full slotting or wasting endurance using an AoE damage power or a high damage/high end cost power to finish off one or 2 nearly dead mobs. The play style is surprisingly different from the controller and can be difficult to adapt to at first. |
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Ding..the BEST advice I ever got in the early days was to play my dom like a blapper. Once I figured that out, I was addicted (and successful). |
Originally Posted by QuiJon
the problem is everyone compares them to controllers. They are much more suited to compare to a blaster. And i find them atleast as easy to level to 32 as a blaster and getting pets to be a much better reward then an action stopping nova.
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I would add that when did the "Kadabra Kill" mission with an MM buddy. The pets kept Singy occupied and I Perma-held Kadabra Kill (power boost ftw). He never fired a single attack other than his Pet Summon. It was surprisingly easy to hold him from range, then once he was good and held go in for the the kill. I would say theres no shame in getting help for a Hero class enemy, heck Doms are squishy. Also, if you have power boost and solo alot...do not skip it. Longer duration, overlapping holds are life savers.
My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi
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The problem is that they don't compare well to Blasters either. Most Blasters have a plethora of single target AND AoE damage powers and with just SOs and hasten can have both a seemless AoE or Single Target attack chain and have them as early as level 24. They don't require as much slotting to be effective and there is always an end cost appropriate attack recharged and ready to go.|
Originally Posted by QuiJon
the problem is everyone compares them to controllers. They are much more suited to compare to a blaster. And i find them atleast as easy to level to 32 as a blaster and getting pets to be a much better reward then an action stopping nova.
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Most blasters can just target the boss in a spawn and let loose with Aim > Build Up and their AoEs and have only the boss standing after that. A smooth single target chain can then finish the boss quickly all with a minmum of endurance expediture.
In comparison my Fire/Fire Dom didn't have a smooth single target attack chain until after level 38 when I finally got Blaze even when I was pretending I was a psychotic ADHD bunny and hopping in and out of melee.
The AoE is lacking as well since what should be one of the highest damage sets (fire) has 2 AoE damage powers that don't play well together. Breath of Fire's cone will miss targets that are in range of Combustion and vice versa. Being short on AoE damage means that you won't wipe out minions until your second round of AoEs. Outside of domination your AoE controls don't last long enough to cycle your AoEs twice..... until you are mostly fully slotted in the early 40s and by that time IO'd doms are running perma and have solved most of the early level problems.... Problems Blasters don't run into.
I really dislike the ADHD bunny range dance and was happy to be rid of the play style when I got perma. Even after the dom changes it's the main reason that I haven't rolled another Dom and probably won't.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
The problem is that they don't compare well to Blasters either. Most Blasters have a plethora of single target AND AoE damage powers and with just SOs and hasten can have both a seemless AoE or Single Target attack chain and have them as early as level 24. They don't require as much slotting to be effective and there is always an end cost appropriate attack recharged and ready to go.
Most blasters can just target the boss in a spawn and let loose with Aim > Build Up and their AoEs and have only the boss standing after that. A smooth single target chain can then finish the boss quickly all with a minmum of endurance expediture. In comparison my Fire/Fire Dom didn't have a smooth single target attack chain until after level 38 when I finally got Blaze even when I was pretending I was a psychotic ADHD bunny and hopping in and out of melee. The AoE is lacking as well since what should be one of the highest damage sets (fire) has 2 AoE damage powers that don't play well together. Breath of Fire's cone will miss targets that are in range of Combustion and vice versa. Being short on AoE damage means that you won't wipe out minions until your second round of AoEs. Outside of domination your AoE controls don't last long enough to cycle your AoEs twice..... until you are mostly fully slotted in the early 40s and by that time IO'd doms are running perma and have solved most of the early level problems.... Problems Blasters don't run into. I really dislike the ADHD bunny range dance and was happy to be rid of the play style when I got perma. Even after the dom changes it's the main reason that I haven't rolled another Dom and probably won't. |
I disagree. The problem is (now and since the games inception)players expecting archetypes to play like other archetypes. If you want a blaster ?Play a blaster. If you want a controller? Play a controller. You want a brute? Play a brute and dont complain that they arent completely like a tanker or a scrapper.Blah, blah blah.....
In my opinion we would be living in a completely different game had COV and it's unique archetypes been released prior to Coh . I seriously doubt all of the "need this or that" for a team would have materialized in the mind of the playerbase. The PROBLEM is players who expect one archetype to perform like another archetype instead of learning and enjoying the nuances of an ARCHETYPE with no expectations other than experience with THAT archetype.
The problem is players having preconceived notions about an archetype(not just dominator's) based on a stereotype coined from the typical hero playstyle .
Disclaimer: There are plenty of hero players who do not embrace that limiting mindset. No offense intended by my post.
Yes,Op. Dom's can solo just fine.
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They compare more closely to a blaster, then they do a controller. I guess we could argue the point, but controllers were not intended to be damage dealers. Yes they have powers that do damage, namely pets, but most controllers dont get strait damage attacks until the epic power pools. Where as a dom, gets a mixture of control sets and damage sets from the begining. And and since the revamp dominator, the damage sets are close to being on par with a blaster. They do perfectly fine damage to slot early on at maybe one SO acc and 2 damage and be able to use those slots for controls. Especially with a set that is so -def like earth control is. | The problem is that they don't compare well to Blasters either. Most Blasters have a plethora of single target AND AoE damage powers and with just SOs and hasten can have both a seemless AoE or Single Target attack chain and have them as early as level 24. They don't require as much slotting to be effective and there is always an end cost appropriate attack recharged and ready to go. |
The bunny hopping playstyle you speak of is actually exactly how IMO a blaster survives. He attacks from range, picks a moment to move in and slap down some melee and backs off again etc. This playstyle works well for doms also, with the acception that IMO you need to concentrate on attacking the entire mob, not just a single strong enemy within it.
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In comparison my Fire/Fire Dom didn't have a smooth single target attack chain until after level 38 when I finally got Blaze even when I was pretending I was a psychotic ADHD bunny and hopping in and out of melee. |
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| The AoE is lacking as well since what should be one of the highest damage sets (fire) has 2 AoE damage powers that don't play well together. Breath of Fire's cone will miss targets that are in range of Combustion and vice versa. Being short on AoE damage means that you won't wipe out minions until your second round of AoEs. Outside of domination your AoE controls don't last long enough to cycle your AoEs twice..... until you are mostly fully slotted in the early 40s and by that time IO'd doms are running perma and have solved most of the early level problems.... Problems Blasters don't run into. |
The thing is many times, i fight the boss last. I can hold a boss even with only SOs pretty much indefinately so long as i keep track of him, and lets face it the minions and LTs are not exactly tough to deal with with soft controls like earthquake. If you operate under the impression that you should singly handedly be working on the boss and only let splash damage deal with the rest of the mob, ya your probably going to have issues.
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| I really dislike the ADHD bunny range dance and was happy to be rid of the play style when I got perma. Even after the dom changes it's the main reason that I haven't rolled another Dom and probably won't. |
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Quijon's exactly right on this point. Use your single target attacks to eliminate the rest of the spawn while you're keeping the boss held. Depending on AoE damage to defeat the minions means you're taking a lot more damage from them.
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Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Being short on AoE damage means that you won't wipe out minions until your second round of AoEs.
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Don't get me wrong. I'm not disagreeing with any of this merely pointing out the aspects of the low level dominator that I find unfun or annoying. The Dom really didn't get fun until the very late 30's and early 40s. Power and playability weren't on par with any of my Blasters or even my Defenders and still pale beside the Brutes, Masterminds, and even Corruptors I have played.|
Originally Posted by DitzyBlonde
I disagree. The problem is (now and since the games inception)players expecting archetypes to play like other archetypes. If you want a blaster ?Play a blaster. If you want a controller? Play a controller. You want a brute? Play a brute and dont complain that they arent completely like a tanker or a scrapper.Blah, blah blah.....
In my opinion we would be living in a completely different game had COV and it's unique archetypes been released prior to Coh . I seriously doubt all of the "need this or that" for a team would have materialized in the mind of the playerbase. The PROBLEM is players who expect one archetype to perform like another archetype instead of learning and enjoying the nuances of an ARCHETYPE with no expectations other than experience with THAT archetype. The problem is players having preconceived notions about an archetype(not just dominator's) based on a stereotype coined from the typical hero playstyle . Disclaimer: There are plenty of hero players who do not embrace that limiting mindset. No offense intended by my post. Yes,Op. Dom's can solo just fine. |
I recently rolled a Fire/Dark Corruptor and at the low levels had far less survival and endurance issues even though the Corruptor has a much lower base damage level and lacks hard controls.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
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This begs the question of the purpose of having AoE attacks in the Dominator AT if using the single target attacks are more effective. Or even the question of why all or at least most of the single target attacks aren't early in the power set and all the AoE ones late. That would certainly have made the early levels go much smoother.|
Originally Posted by Liliaceae
Quijon's exactly right on this point. Use your single target attacks to eliminate the rest of the spawn while you're keeping the boss held. Depending on AoE damage to defeat the minions means you're taking a lot more damage from them.
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@Quijon. Your described play style didn't work for me. When I was playing as you described I took an unacceptable amount of ranged damage. I was soloing at +1/x4 and running hero stats I learned a few things.
Fire cages immobilized the spawn. This made the avoid in Hot Feet ineffective. I took as much as 2x more damage when the mobs were immobilized than I did when I let them grind away near the -run speed cap.
According to Hero stats the total damage contribution of Hot Feet was greater than either Breath of Fire or Combustion (but not greater than Breath of Fire and Combustion combined.)
Most of the potent mezzers in a spawn are lieutenants. I found that out side Dominaton I had to open with an AoE control, follow up with Breath of Fire, then move into melee and let loose with Combustion. At this point I had to start thinking about applying Char to the lieutenants before they recovered from being stunned and alternating Flares and Fire Blast, bunny hop in to leverage Incinerate and then bunny hop back out and waste a couple seconds lining up Fire Breath again.
When I was running hero stats I discovered that when I stopped bunny hopping that my DPS increased by a noticeable amount but my survivability decreased by a much greater amount.
The following spawn I'd have to open with Cinders since Flashfires wasn't recharged. On the 3rd spawn I wouldn't have an AoE control available as neither one would be recharged. This situtation remained until I had Hasten and enough global recharge to have one or the other available as an opener every time. IIRC that wasn't until the late 30s/early 40s and I was nearing perma Dom levels of recharge.
Many of you in this forum may enjoy the enforced bunny hopping playstyle of the dominator but in my experience and in my opinion it is most likely the thing that prevents most other players from enjoying it and accounts at least partially for Doms being one of the lowest population redside ATs especially pre-revamp.
As far as the contention that had CoV been released first the game would have been entirely different. I agree. Based on red side population numbers from release to now had they been released in reverse order CoH would never have gotten off the ground. The greatly reduced income from a much lower population of players would have prevented further development during the period of time when there were few developers and little money was being made available for new issues. This would have caused the franchise to be disbanded.
No disrespect to anyone here on the Dom forums. I'd really like to enjoy my Doms more. A Dom was the first thing I rolled when CoV came out and I was greatly underwhelmed and disappointed. The concept of the Dominator is a good one but the power sets fail in execution especially when compared to Brutes, MMs, and Veats.
Going back to the OP and my point. Yes, a Dominator can solo, I've soloed mine almost exclusively.
If you are comparing the Dom to a Controller and not taking it on it's own merits you will be disappointed in the lack of duration of the controls, especially the AoEs, especially before you can afford enough slots to make the power effective.
If you are comparing the Dom to a Blaster and not taking it on it's own merits you will be similarly disappointed in the gaps in your attack chain(s), and the lower amount of AoE damage, especially before you can afford enough slots to make the power(s) effective.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
You've exactly described what I find fun about playing a Dominator. I love to jump around and constantly assess the situation and make decisions. An AT with which you just run in and sequentially defeat all of the enemy depending on your passive defences I find terribly boring.
As for AoE attacks, in the higher levels you can definitely use them for minions, once your AoE mezzes last long enough.
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Yes I know, and this is my point. There is a difference between jumping around because you are assesing a situation (which I do enjoy) and jumping around because your AT/potential power selections give you little to no choice (which I don't enjoy). The first is a choice you make based your own skill level, the second is forced upon you. I have always been a proponent of more choices and options rather than fewer.|
Originally Posted by Liliaceae
You've exactly described what I find fun about playing a Dominator. I love to jump around and constantly assess the situation and make decisions. An AT with which you just run in and sequentially defeat all of the enemy depending on your passive defences I find terribly boring.
As for AoE attacks, in the higher levels you can definitely use them for minions, once your AoE mezzes last long enough. |
You shouldn't have to wait until high levels to finally be effective. You shouldn't have to rely on IOs as a crutch to make up for short comings in an AT. You should be able to be good at "something" at each stage of the game (1-12, 12-22, 22-32, 33-41, and 42+) instead of being relatively weak until the end game and then finally come into your own.
For this reason I have problems with Super Reflexes which doesn't come into it's own until late game, Shields which doesn't come into it's own until the late game and also requires IOs to meet it's full potential and the Dominator AT which doesn't come into it's own until late game and which IOs and perma make not only a difference but make a magnitude of difference.
Dominator controls don't last long enough out side of domination or recharge quickly enough until fully slotted or beefed up with IO set bonuses both of which are things that typically only happen in the late game.
Add to that, that Dom AoE controls have less than standard accuracy (just like controllers) so that not only do you not get to use them often enough early, they also aren't ready as often as you need them early, and you don't hit enough targets to make the control you do get effective. All these things balance out in the late game but can make the early levels tedious.
I realize that the devs can't reasonably add duration to the AoE controls. That would make perma insanely overpowered BUT giving dom AoE controls standard accuracy might go a long way towards balancing out the early levels.
Then the AoE controls could be slotted more effectively early and the short duration would at least be counter balanced by being able to affect a majority of the targets. It wouldn't be over powered for perma since to get perma you need to slot sets. Most Control sets feature over slotted accuracy anyway to counter the low base accuracy of most AoE controls. Permas are going to be wasting the extra accuracy in ED.
In my opinion that would be a good step to take to balance the lower levels while not making late levels or perma overpowered.
That's all I'm really saying.
Edit - You know what. I found a document that says better exactly what I've been trying to say here all this time. You wrote it Liliaceae. It's in your sig. Dominator Problems. While the revamp has addressed many of the minor problems you pointed out. It did little to address the major ones and it also increased the time it took to build domination as you predicted.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
In regards to the OP
Id say its a playstyle thing. Idda popped a red and purp, hit DOMINATION and killed 1 boss, held the other and worked the min/lts.
To how the thread has devolved.
Id say now its more a speciallized role in prim/sec combinations now.
Id disagree with earth/elec being a good solo dom.
Something like mind/fire is an incredible solo toon from lvl 1-50.
Earth/elec I see as a dom layin out aoe control/damage on a team that has alot of brutes/soa.
Could I build one to solo? Ya, but id rather put together a better build for solo'n purposes.
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Originally Posted by Shadow Ravenwolf
My favorite combo is Faceplant/DebtCap with the TeamWipe Ancillary
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Originally Posted by Dispari
Yeah, I like Blasters too.
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Hi all.
)
I enjoy soloing. I enjoyed playing a controller (Level 50 Earth/Radiation). I seem to have a problem when trying this as a dominator. I did make it to twenty...four? as an earth/electricity dominator, but ran into a wall (aside from not enjoying the theme much).
Story:
Bosses. I can handle minions and lieutenants, but bosses give me quite a lot of trouble that I didn't get on my controllers. The brick wall occured on Darrin Wade's story arc. At that point, I had Fossilize, Quicksand, Stalagmites, and Earthquake in the way of controls, and all available electricity assault attacks as well as Build Up. CJ and SL from Leaping and Swift, Health, and Stamina from Fitness. I also had a Kismet +6% Accuracy that I found.
Anyway, onto the mission. Again, minions and lieutenants are cake. But I run into a boss. He puts up a furious fight. The nameless Lost boss barely noticed my Fossilize, Quicksand, and Stalagmites, and Earthquake was only a minor inconvenience. I managed to beat him, but he lowered me to 30-ish% health, and Stalagmites/EQ were now cooling down. No biggie, I run down the hole in the office building, then nearly fell over when there were two bosses (a generic hero and named Lost), along with a minion and possibly a lieutenant.
This time, stalagmites did stun the minion, but the bosses shrugged it off and began with singularity and everything. The combo knocked me out several times till I couldn't wake up anymore, and then I had to run back from the hospital. Long story short, it took an hour, maybe two, to complete the mission, because bosses barely noticed my controls, and even if my Built Up attacks lowered their health, they lowered mine just as much or even had another boss to help kill me. Pulling from max distance didn't help either, as they remained in groups. (Oh, and liches aren't very grateful to their rescuers, heh
End of Story
As a controller, that wouldn't have been a problem. I could debuff their tohit, defense, resistance, and damage to silly levels, or even heal myself. Controls worked better because my controls constantly overpowered, so mezzing even a Lost boss could be done quickly. My Ice/Empathy Controller took on two even-level Outcast bosses, Lightning and Stone-typed, only using critical controls and Healing Aura (Maybe one ice patch during that fight too).
The inherent Dominator power didn't seem to help either. It was on a long cooldown, and -maybe- lasted for two fights at most. Then I had to wait the while for it to return.
So what am I doing wrong? Was that just a difficult mission (You can find it on Paragonwiki under Darrin Wade, the one where you rescue an oni, 3k Kelvin, Bane something or other, etc)? I want to play a dominator, as I like the sets, but there seems to be a lack of defense and control that can only be provided if I invest greatly into inventions, which I couldn't at the time.
Also, I've wanted to find a different dominator that fits me. I like Plant, Gravity, maybe Fire and Ice. I'm aware of Gravity's lack of control (Wormhole). I have fears of the assault sets, though, so I'm asking if the rumors are exaggerated or true.
Thorn Assault- I reeeally like the look, but I hear, and read from a spreadsheet, that lethal and toxic are heavily resisted the further into the game I get. Is it really that bad, or can it be overcome (without the assistance of inventions)?
Fire Assault- Not resisted very ofted, but it seems sort of slow. Flares (3 second recharge), Incinerate (10 second recharge), Fire Breath (16 second recharge), then fire blast (8 second recharge). Does this make for an okay attack chain? Also, and this goes for all sets: I'd love to slot recharge, but it seems I barely have room for the standard 2 Acc and 3 Damage. Sometimes, like in the case of my Earth/Electricity, I had to settle for only 1 Acc 3 Damage for each attack. What is the correct way to do this?
Ice Assault- Also rarely resisted, but its damage doesn't seem to bloom until late, which annoys me. I prefer sets that bloom at even intervals throughout my career.
Psychic Assault- I don't like the feel of this set, but even then, I've heard that Psi damage is one of the top most highly resisted damage types out there.
Earth Assault- New, but similar to Thorns, does the smashing resistance of enemies lower its damage too much?
These are my concerns for now. Please respond with answers and advice, veteran dominators.
Thanks!