Looking for help deciding on dom sets

I really like the idea of dominators, Ive always liked controllers on the blue side, and dominators seem like a more offensive version.

Ive taken an Ice/Ice to lvl 14, I like him, but i dont see much love around here for ice/ice and I dont want to play a gimped char. (correct me if im wrong)

I started a plant/thorns because I see a lot of love for that combo but was turned off almost right away (lvl 4) due to the thorns annimation. I didnt like having to wait for the thorns to do their thing before you could actually attack. But i do like plant so far. Ive seen fire being paired with plant... but i have so many fire characters, I was hoping for something different.

So is there maybe a plant/ something other than fire or thorns someone could recommend? Or is ice/ice not that bad? Or maybe something different all together?

Thanks!

I have a lvl 50 Ice/Ice/Ice dom that truly dominates with perma-dom on, I am really close to soft cap (44.4%) S/L def atm, because I play a lot in melee range. So far, the endurance cost to constantly put out stuff like Ice storm, Sleet, Ice patch and then AoEs such as ISC and Frost Breath requires you to use blues from time to time, but I am waiting to see how the next issue affects it. I spent a LOT of inf on the IO build so it doesn't show right away and your play style once you hit 50 may be quite different from when you get permadom and some S/L def (if you decide to go that route).

I have a level 50 plant/thorn, grav/nrgy, mind/psi, earth/fire, fire/fire.... And i think im missing one or two in there somewhere.

If you dont like long animations then ya i would skip thorns, and probably actually earth assualt as well. As far as animations go, i would stay ice, fire, or energy assualt are your best bets, but not maybe for synergy with your main pool.

I guess the question is what or how are you going to play the game. If you play solo or in teams you need to keep that in mind. Are you theme minded, where you like going ice/ice, or fire/fire or do you mix and match and have no issues.

My first dom was my grav/nrgy. I really liked playing her. The draw back is sorta a late bloomer for control, its really not there in a strong manner until you get wormholes in the 20s. I knew i already liked the energy pool from my blaster and damage was nice, you can take bone crusher at like level 2.

My second dom was the Fire/Fire. He was fun to play, animated well, had good damage and control. I really cant complain about him, but i also kinda lost intrest in him after a bit. Dont know why might just be me being distracted easily by new shinnies.

Third i roled the earth/fire. I REALLY liked the way this one played. Earth IMO surprised the hell out of me with how much control it really offered, and IMO again by far has the most useful AOE hold in all the control sets by way of its mechanics and recharge rate. The draw back was that because many of the powers in earth spawned seudo pets, domination didnt help out as much on the controls, but i found with fire i didnt need much more then what i was given. This ended up finally being the first domaintor i found worth the cost of perma'ing out.

I messed around in the mean time with plant/thorn and i think i did an ice/elec when that assualt pool was added but really didnt care for either. Plant was nice for control but kinda a one hit wonder in that really you get your best and most useful power at 12 and its pretty much there for every mob. I was used to the thorns from a spines scrapper, but I agree if you feel like the animations are overly taxing to watch it becomes painful after a while.

Finally i caved into everyone and decided to try the mind pool which i always avoided due to lack of pets, and the psi pool which i always avoided because it was pink(not a problem now) and because it used to be so lopsided in its late maturity.(which has been helped as of late) This is now my favorite dominator i have. I dont miss the pets at all, i find that with the rebalance psi does good enough damage on its now now, and mind offers an amazing amount of control. Mind basicly gives you a ST and AOE of like everything. You get a ST sleep, hold and confuse, and a AOE sleep hold and confuse. Even better the ST confuse doesnt break stealth so you can control a boss mob before anyone is even thinking of attacking you. Psi has ok ST damage now, but still has its strenght in the AOEs from the cone and PSW. But also has the added benefit of a regen/recovery buff which especially if you dont plan on going perma is helpful. But when i perma'd this dom i never looked back. Right now i was thinking of trying to solo a Teravolt respec mission with him just for kick and giggles and to see if i could do it.

I currently am playing a level 43 elec/earth dom that seems solid enough but is kinda having end issues now with all the heavier attacks in the line. Its not terrible but seems to be more noticable then other dominators i have played. Elec is nice, but has alot of holes IMO. Or atleast choiced that made no sense to me, like taking an aoe attack that does a single tick of knockdown and barely any damage. But you do get an AOE sleep that works like volcanic gases which is really nice, and an AOE confuse that chains off the hit of a single target and both are relatively strong powers even with just the initial slotting of accuracy.

Any Dominator can be workable. Whether any particular combo works for you, well, you'll have to try it for yourself.

I played Ice/Fire to the mid 30s and eventually deleted it because I just didnt want to have to take the sleep to get an every-fight alpha-opener. Ice Slick just allows too much retaliation for my tastes even if you use shiver and AA and everything else to floor recharge. I just got SICK of playing that game just to open on a group. So I deleted it. I finally got stubborn and played Ice/Psi to 40 but even Drain Psyche and Psychic Shockwave weren't payoffs enough for me to keep it so I deleted it.

And yet plenty of people like their Ice Doms and Ice Controllers. I love Ice/Storm and Ice/FF on heroside myself. So it just depends.

I'm still planning to give an Ice Dom a shot. I just started Ice/Energy just because I've decided the AOE Sleep is going to be my main opener every time, and I'll use Single Target attacks mostly, and/or use the other controls as a follow-up to the sleep. So we'll see how I do with Ice/Energy.

But that's ME. YOU on the other hand may love it, and you won't know until you give it a fair shake.

Lewis

Cast my vote in for either Mind/stone ( My fav... XD ) or Fire/psi.

Well, just tried my hand at Elec/stone. to be honest it's a beast in team play, but solo without the sleep Targeted, I'm getting rolled a lot and I play real defencively too.

My first lvl 50 on red side was a plant/ice dom. CONFUSION ftw. I compensated for the slow recharge by cranking the number of attackers up. By the time I mopped them up the confusion was up for the next mob. The big problem was then the abundance of bosses I had to deal with. Not impossible if you are careful, but doms are super week in durability. a couple of taps and its off to the hosp. Eyes open. Plant pets are just there to distract the enemy.

I also have a Grav/Fire that I like. Lots of damage. Like playing a Blaster but with a few controls. The pet makes the build much much easier.

And I started a fire/stone dom not long ago. I plan to combine the two auras and the pets for globs of damage. Still below lvl 20, but it is fun to play.

I figure when I see doms in game 50% are mental and 25% are plant. If you want something different work on a Earth. I rarely even see Earth controllers. Earth/Energy seems to work well. Or Earth/Elec.

If you join teams, I've found that ranged attacks are what keep me more a live. If I start wading in with melee, someone usually beats me up. MMV depending on healers or not.

My first 50 was a plant/fire Dom. The combo is extremely effective and fun. I respecced him to the Fire Mastery ancillary pool to try it out and....oh my. My friends call him "The OP Dom," and "The Ridiculous" if that gives you any idea of what Plant/Fire can do.

I also have and thoroughly enjoy (all are somewhere between 25 and 50):
Mind/Fire (extremely safe soloing and very nice damage)
Ice/Ice (a little end heavy, not that great at AoE control, but fun)
Grav/Energy (I wouldn't suggest it for someone new to doms, can be tricky)
Mind/Earth (very fun and extremely good at soloing)
Earth/Earth (a slow starter at low levels, but once it gets rolling it's crazy)
Mind/Psi (very good combo)
Elec/Elec (good soloist and has some neat mechanics. domino-style KD is great)

I.....think that's all of them.
For someone new to Doms I would say Plant/Fire or Mind/anything to be honest.

Well, I'd typed a nice long post explaining why Earth/Fire is my favorite Dom, but the forum ate it, so we'll try a shorter version.

I've run 7+ doms of various combinations into the 40's or higher and Earth/Fire has become my favorite by far. Earth control doesn't benefit from domination as much as other sets, but it also doesn't need it. Volcanic Gasses, Earthquake and Quicksand are awesome. I didn't even take Stone Cages, but I rarely take the AoE Immob on Doms. Fire has the damage and AoE to take advantage of the lockdown and safety that Earth provides. Adding Rain of Fire and Fireball, just made the toon go over the top into OMGBBQ land, and it's become my first choice for anything that I can bring it to.

I'll probably end up perma'ing the toon, not because I feel it needs it, just because I want my earth controls up as often as possible and eventually I'll hit perma 'by accident.'