Superstrength... for Doms!

Eh, wot? Yeah, I know. But I ran my Fire/Fire dom through Dean Mc's arc earlier today. My faulty clone?

A Grav/SS dominator.

And damn, that looked like it'd be fun. Yeah, the set would need some adjustment for Dominators (and yes, Scrappers, I know you want it - let Castle play with the numbers, as I think that's his big issue there) but I think it'd be an interesting secondary.

Now, most Assault secondaries have a mix of melee, range and AOE. Superstrength is a bit weak on range - but then again, Dominators don't need Taunt, and probably could do without Handclap (since the primary is all about control.)

So, how to change it for Dominators - maybe just call it "Physical Assault?"

Superstrength (Tank version, as it's also a secondary there) looks like so.
1. Jab - Minor damage, disorient, lvl 1
2. Punch - Moderate dmg, knockdown, lvl 2
3. Haymaker - Melee, High dmg, KD, lvl 4
4. Taunt - lvl 10. Obviously something to change.
5. Hand Clap - PBAOE KB. Lvl 16. Another to change.
6. KO Blow - Extreme damage, Knockup, Hold. Mmmm, another hold Lvl 20
7. Rage - Self +Dmg +tohit, loss of Dmg and Def after time. Change.
8. Hurl - Finally, a ranged attack! High dmg and KB. Lvl 35
9. Foot Stomp - PBAOE, moderate Dmg, Foe KD. (And hella fun.) Lvl 38

So, our biggest potential issues are:
- Range. I don't actually consider this an issue, much. The entire primary is range, after all, and control. We could move Hurl up, perhaps.
- Taunt. Don't need it.
- Rage. Definitely don't need -def, or -dmg, even though that won't affect our primary all that much (-dmg doesn't matter to a hold's main purpose, or ice slick, for instance.)
- More AOE. If we're going to be in melee, we're going to want to hit lots of people hard and fast. At least one more AOE attack would be good.

Proposed Dominator Superstrength/Physical Assault set:

1. Jab
2. Punch
3. Haymaker
4. Shockwave. (Uses ground punch from Earth Assault's spear, perhaps.) Cone, moderate damage, KD. Send out a wave of destructive force towards your enemies.
5. Hurl - Just to get that ranged attack in earlier.
6. KO Blow
7. "Battle Fever." Essentially a mix of Consume and Drain Psyche. You drain some END from surrounding foes, the shock doing very minor damage and lowering their Rech/Recovery while raising yours. (Alternately, if a damage buff is needed, it lowers their Rech/Recov and boosts your damage for 30 sec.)
8. Spin. OK, I'm not sure what to call it, but really, a variant on Spin. PBAOE.
9. Foot Stomp.

Why the second AOE so late? By then your controls and other tricks from your primary should be keeping you from getting into too much trouble as you jump in and slam on people. So it's time to make the most of it.

It would be a somewhat different playstyle, giving up a lot of the range in other Dom secondaries (and, as you can see - no snipe,) but variation's part of what keeps the game fresh, right?

See my Guides and Tutorials

i like it. looks good. would definately be fun.

Sooo....you want to play a 'dominator.' That 'physically assaults' people.

<_<

>_>

I'm thinking such terminology might make a hard sell for the 'new powerset' discussions over at Paragon studios.

Discussions that I'd pay to see.

I don't think my doms could survive playing this set, but it sounds different so some people would probably like it.

It would also be possible to use Martial Arts as a base, and it would allow a different theme for the ranged attacks.

Considering that thematically Super Strength is for the Big Tough Guy ATs with high resistance like Tankers and Brutes while Martial Arts goes to the ATs with less resistance like Scrappers and Stalkers, giving an SS-inspired set to an AT with no resistance seems a tad inappropriate.

So if we're going with the physical theme, Martial Arts seems like a better thematic fit. You could add the Shuriken and Exploding Shuriken powers for range, and maybe make a a Shuriken Barrage as well as a range attack.

Either way, going for a physically powerful set for a physically frail AT seems a tad silly.

40ft is considered 'ranged', not 'melee'. 39- is non-ranged.

Icy for example I know is 4/4/1. Thorny is 4/3/2

Just to clarify, when I say physically frail I don't mean that they cannot dish out damage, but they can't take it well. After all, Scrappers can consistently dish out more damage yet the less-powerful Tankers get the intimidating Super Strength set while Scrappers are stuck with the weaker-looking Martial Arts set. That doesn't really make sense at first, especially when looking at numbers, so I figured when the devs decided who to give MA and who to give SS (or who's the "Big Tough Guy" and who less so), they looked at the defense and resistance values of the ATs.

(I also think Castle voiced concerns over giving Kinetic Melee to RAWR SMASH Brute AT for thematic reasons, so the devs do seem to care about thematic fits. I don't have any links to this right now so feel free to just dismiss this).

But hey, if this would turn out to be a fun set, then ultimately I won't care whether it's a thematic fit or not. If the devs decide to proliferate War Mace onto Stalkers, I won't protest that change, either. I just think that if the devs do care whether a set is thematically appropriate to a given AT, it's easier to sell them on the idea if we don't deviate too much from those themes.

And for the record, if you wanna make a little girl Tanker or Brute, that's a perfectly valid choice and I sincerely doubt anybody would tell you to change your toon to something more "appropriate" or whatever. But as you said, it won't affect your survivability, your tiny schoolgirl Brute will still be a brickwall and your body-building Defender will never never be able to take as many hits as your schoolgirl Brute.

And to reiterate, in the spirit of fun, if that set would actually be fun to play, all this won't matter. I personally cannot gauge enjoyment from a set sketch, so I'll leave that for others to decide.

What ever you think will be fun, but the brute needs the broad sword first more than we need this.

I can get behind Superstrength and/or Martial Arts Domis, something for a more natural character.

Just quickly checking the Dominator powersets, it seems they don't get a small melee attack in any form, usually opting for a small ranged attack then the medium/large bread and butter melee attack (Bone Smasher, Stone Mallet ect), with Earth Assault even having a ranged power specifically made for the set so they didn't have to add Stone Fist. Whether to keep that with a Super Strength set or not is up to the Devs, as it'd be something to set it apart from the rest for sure, unless unbalanced.

Referencing between your proposed powers and existing sets, I'd build it something more like;

1: Punch
2: Haymaker
4: Shockwave
10: Hurl
16: Rage
20: Hand Clap: Changed to knockdown with minor smashing damage, 50% chance to stun and average accuracy
28: Knockout Blow
35: Battle Taunt: Single target foe -tohit (5-10%), -defense (10-15%), -damage (5-15%), mag 1 fear and taunt. 7.5 second duration, 20 second recharge. For the animation you point at and single out an enemy with one hand while you beat your chest with the other
38: Foot Stomp

Edit: Missed the preview button <.< >.>

For a Martial Arts set, I'd imagine it'd be easier to put together.

1: Shuriken
2: Storm Kick
4: Crippling Axe Kick
10: Exploding Shuriken
16: Focus Chi
20: Quickness
28: Crane Kick
35: Dragon's Tail
38: Shuriken Barrage: Ranged cone of shurikens, moderate lethal damage, 15-20 second recharge, 10-15 endurance

YES! Great idea. hold everyone and then beat them downj with your fists : P I give it a 10