I have a Plant/Psi that I still play sometimes. I would go with Fire. Better damage, and rarely do I play with sound, but the PSW yell gets old fast.
I ended up going Psi. Draine Psyche was too good to pass up. I was getting a little bored of Fire themed sets, between my FM/SD, SS/Fire, and other Fire/Kin Corr. I'm liking the quiet whirring of Psi's attacks. Overall, the build shouldn't change much from /Earth, and I won't have to listen to the loud, bassy rumbling and smashing sound effects.
I've got a plant/psi that's pretty sturdy. Drain Psyche quickly became one of my favorite powers. It's pretty awesome to see your regen and recovery maxed out with a well placed DP.
I'm definitely looking forward to that. Even with copious -end slotting I was still bottoming out on my /Earth pretty fast. Since I intend to be in the middle of the fight 100% of the time, DP and PS should treat me kindly. I still fully intend to take Rain of Fire and Fire Ball, though. I'm not too bored of fire themed sets to pass up on that awesome sauce. Well... depending on how my build goes, I maaaaay try to build for high S/L defense, in which case, I'd go Ice APP so I can get Frozen armor. Then I'd have Sleet which wouldn't particularly blow my damage through the roof, but it would be a lot more useful in terms of force multiplying. I'd still have Ice Storm to be gleeful about.
Actually, looking at Mid's, Ice Armor seems to be the best Ancilllary a Dom could ask for. Sleet debuffs and adds yet another element of control in KB/Slow. Hoarfrost gives you tons of extra HP and works out as an "oh crap" heal if you want it. Those extra HP pretty much have the same effectiveness as adding resistence. Then you get defense, which not only helps in the obvious way, but can also be a LotG mule if you need it. Top it off with Ice Storm to add a decent amount of damage and you've got yourself an incredibly well-rounded dominator APP.
The only reason I would personally take Cold would be for Sleet. Plant has seeds, which I find is all the damage mitigation I need. I would take something with another AoE, because PSW isn't as nice as it was.
My current build:
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I agree. It is very appealing. When I'm done with my current projects (an elec/rad troller and mind/nrg dom) I was thinking of doing an earth/fire/ice elementalist dom. If I could take all five powers from the Ice APP I think that I just might.
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I hear this reasoning often and think there is no point comparing PSW to what it was. When you look at /psi assault now, it's not top dog for AoE, but it does decently. It surely isn't at the bottom of the stack when it comes to AoE damage either.
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Originally Posted by Stratoman
The only reason I would personally take Cold would be for Sleet. Plant has seeds, which I find is all the damage mitigation I need. I would take something with another AoE, because PSW isn't as nice as it was.
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When I think about PSW now, compared to what it was before, I just think to myself "Ok, they made it like Foot stomp, only pure psi damage and a boss level stun under domination." Makes it sound pretty good to me!
When I look at the AoE damage of particular sets, I also try to consider "real-world" usefulness. Combustion does a lot of damage, but it's more than half DoT. Fire Breath does more than Psychic Scream, but it's got 20ft less range. Scream has a better chance of hitting more foes. PSW may not do as much damage as Combustion, but it will burst damage many foes to death and stun every thing it hits so to me that makes it a better power. -recharge is a good secondary effect, compared to just more damage from Fire. As for the special utility power, Drain Psyche blows Embrace of Fire out of the water.
Here's my Plant/Psi i19 build. 4 slots left over. 1 for Health and 3 for Stamina once that goes inherent.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.81
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Dominator
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5)
Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Decim-Acc/Dmg(5), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(15), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 2: Mind Probe -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36)
Level 4: Telekinetic Thrust -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(37), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Krma-ResKB(7)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf%(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(9), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(9), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(11), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(11)
Level 10: Mental Blast -- Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Decim-Acc/Dmg(17), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(21), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 14: Roots -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(A)
Level 16: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(39), Posi-Dmg/Rng(39), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39)
Level 18: Vines -- BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(19), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(19), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(21)
Level 20: Drain Psyche -- Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(A), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(42), Numna-Heal/Rchg(46), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(48)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(23)
Level 24: Spore Burst -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Sleep(25), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(25), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(27), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(27)
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(43), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(43), TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 28: Subdue -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(29), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 30: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(A), C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(33)
Level 35: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42)
Level 41: Sleet -- RechRdx-I(A), Achilles-ResDeb%(46)
Level 44: Hoarfrost -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Posi-Dmg/Rchg(A), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg(48)
Level 49: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 4: Ninja Run
Gets pretty good defense and awesome recharge. Perma-hasten/domination/Drain Psyche (ok DP is off by 2 seconds. I can live with that). Oh, and perma-sleet, for what it's worth!
I have a Plant/Psi and just recently swapped to /Fire for a few reasons.
I always found it a bit tedious running in and out of range to get my seeds off. Also I felt that the -recharge from Psi was counter-productive when getting enemies to wail on each other with Seeds. Next is that the psi resists later on are frustrating.
Overall my /Fire just seems to be a much more efficient killing machine. While I was bummed out over the Pyschic Schockwave rebalance/nerf, with my /Fire I realize the amount of damage it was doing was overkill anyway. With the fire APP and Roots along with Breath, I'm wiping out minions most LTs on the first round anyway, and it's really more about single target damage.
I'm able to build a complete attack chain out of Strangler, Fire Blast, Blaze, and Breath of Fire, and the improved range and lack of frustrating animation time on Mind Probe are just really gratifying. I feel like my damage has increased significantly not just because of the higher base damage on Fire's attacks, but because of the ease of use of them. I don't use Incinerate or Combustion... I found Combustion's radius and cast time frustrating, and Incinerate doesn't do so much more damage than Fire Blast that I'm tempted to enter into melee range.
Drain Psyche is fantastic and it's really, really fun being able to tank on a dom (you'll definitely be able to tank while it's active if you have reasonable defense), but ultimately I just feel that Plant is designed to be a ranged set, and Fire supports that playstyle better.
The /earth sound effects are just so annoying. :0 I'm thinking about going for Psi, but Fire may win out. The option to shoot breath of fire from my arms is just too good to give up.