DRAFT - Electric/Earth Guide

Here is my first draft of an Electric/Earth Guide. I'm posting it here with no formatting for comments. I will format for the final draft. Any and all input is appreciated.

Those of you who have read my Ice/Kin guide for corrupters, know that I like to find synergistic pairings of powersets. When I18 hit I knew that I wanted to try out an Electric Control character. I'd been playing enough controllers recently so I settled in on a Dom. After weighing all the options I finally settled on an Elec/Earth Dom.

This guide will discuss the pairing of the two powersets, synergies that exist between them, power explanations and tactics. Additionally there is a discussion on Power Pools and Epic Pools and what makes sense to marry up the character. I do not PvP so there is nothing in the guide relating to it.

Electric Control in a Nutshell

I have to say that after having played my Electric Control Dom for a couple months now I am really enjoying it. It lacks a little in true hard control, but has such a great bag of tricks that it can shine in almost any situation. Additionally, in decent sized groups of enemies it is extremely endurance friendly. As a matter of fact, I played the vast majority of the character's life without Stamina. My end-hungry teammates love me too because I help them a little with endurance through Static Field (though there is no icon to prove it).

I love the "arcing" nature of a couple of the powers in the set. I love the great diversity of powers. I love not having to worry about endurance (or pre-I19 having to take Stamina). The bottom line is that this is a fun set to play! My best moment occured just last night where I was playing with my duo partner, a Kinetic/Shield scrapper. We were playing at x8 and had aggroed two mobs of Rikti. For some reason he went down early and I was left on my own against at least five bosses and a whole host of lesser foes. With him feeding me a few greens I was able to not only weather the storm, but take them all down in dramatic fashion. At the end he said, "how were you able to do that?"


Why Electric/Earth

After deciding on Electric, I went through a thorough review of each of the secondary sets and how I THOUGHT they'd pair with Electric. The "thought" was based on my experience (6+ years) in the game and my limited knowledge of the Electric Control set, since it was brand new. As far as the playstyle of Electric goes, it is definitely what I call "up close and personal," meaning you do best when you're in the middle of a group of mobs. As such, things like knockback are bad, narrow cone attacks (not necessarily melee cones) are less useful and ranged attacks are less utilied. Below I go through my thoughts on each secondary and their pluses and minuses as they relate to Electric Control.


Electric Assault
This is clearly a good potential pairing with Elec/ and I almost went with it. The ability these two combined have to drain enemy of endurance quickly. Why didn't I go with it? The primary reason was that it does not have good enough AoE for me. Electric shines in larger groups so pairing it with a primarily single target set does not do it justice. Yes, Electric Assault has a cone and PBAoE, but Additionally, as I've found through playing, Electric Control has the ability to drain mobs plenty fast by itself. Adding some single-target drains doesn't help much, especially in big groups.


Energy Assault
Knockback = bad. There is really nothing in the way of synergy here and lots of knockback to get mobs out of your PBAoE and sleep. Not a good pairing.


Firey Assault
This is another that I considered strongly. Combustion is a very nice PBAoE and pre-I19, Consume was a great add to the set for those times when your endurance got low and you didn't have Domination close to repowering. But then I tend not to take fire-based sets because they are all about damage and I am a fan of utility. As a result, synergies are lacking other than you do a ton of damage. Also, it has a ranged cone. Not a bad pairing, but nothing amazing either.


Icy Assault
Another "not bad" pairing. The PBAoE in Ice Sword Circle is good, but then it also has a cone in Frost Breath. Chilling Embrace is great to combine with Conductive Aura, but then it conflicts a little with Static Field as it wakes up the sleepers. The slows are nice to help mitigate damage. Power Boost is a good add.


Psi Assault
This is a very close second to Electric in my book. If it hadn't been for the fact that I finished playing a /Psi Dom not too long ago, I may have gone this route. Psi, like Electric Control, needs to be up close to maximize its effectiveness. With one of the best PBAoEs in the game and the amazingness of Drain Psych, it is a strong pairing. I like that Drain Psyche doesn't mess with sleep and the additional "defense" you get from the -rech secondary effects of Psi Assault. The -recovery of Drain Psyche is also an extremely nice pairing with the endurance draining capabilities of Electric Control. Overall a VERY nice pairing, I just don't like waiting until level 38 to get my only good AoE.


Thorny Assault
Another pretty good pairing, but mainly as it relates to damage. Thorny has a very nice PBAoE and two cones with very wide angles, making them good for middle-of-the-pack use. Definitely not bad, but no real synergy either.


That brings us to Earth Assault:
Earth has some very devastating attacks. It has two AoEs that, while each individually is less devastating than those of other sets, have either good secondary effects, large radius or both. Tremor, available at level four, has a 15' radius and knocks down opponents. Fissure, the last of the Earth attacks, also has knockdown and adds in disorient as well. What this means is that with Static Field up and running you have mobs knocked down that fall asleep again before they get up and launch an attack. It is a very nice combination. The knockdown in itself (on all the ttacks), is great mitigation and Seismic Smash gives a high damage, fast animating second hold. Add Power Boost into the mix and you've got a great set to pair with Electric.


Key Strategies

There are a few key strategies that should be considered for an Elec/Earth Dom:

Perma-Dom
Getting Perma-Domination is not as easy with this combo as it is for others. Not that it can't be done and not that it can't even be done without purple sets, but it doesn't come until the late 40s and can't be done without a number of Luck of the Gambler +Rech IOs. Still, Perma-Dom is not what it used to be and I don't consider it the Holy Grail of Doms that it once was.


Defense Build
While Electric and Earth together provide significant mitigation (defense) in their powers, additional defense is always welcome. It is relatively easy to get to close to 30% melee defense, which can jump to close to 40% with Power Boost active. This can make a big difference in early survival each fight while you're in the most peril.


It's All About the Mag
Between Tesla Cage, Seismic Smash, Domination and hold procs you can lay down some serious mag of hold.


Wait... It's Also All About the Knockdown
It seems like about everything you do knocks down opponents. That's not quite true, but it sure seems like it. Embrace this and love it.


The Powers - Electric Control

I was worried that in taking Electric Control I would have a new powerset that still needed a lot of tweaking to be effective. What I got instead was one that seems perfect out of the box. It seems very well balanced and, as mentioned earlier, has a whole bag of tricks with which to play. I'd almost call it the "Trick Arrow" of control, but it doesn't quite have THAT much utility... not quite. In short, it has a very effective AoE control in Static Field, a multi-mob confuse that is up every fight, a multi-mob knockdown that is great for procs and an aura that drains mobs of endurance and gives it to you.


Electric Fence:
Your standard control set single target immobilize. It does not stop knockdown, which is good considering all the knockdown you do. It also drains some endurance. This power is more useful for a controller than a dominator, where the extra damage is helpful. Easily skippable.
When to Take: Only if you have a power slot with nothing else to take (doubtful).
How Often Used: Rarely
Standard Slotting: If you take it then one Acc, adding some EndMods if you want to go for more sapping capability
IO Slotting: Similar to Standard. If you want to beef up your melee defense then 6-slotting Enfeebled Operation which gives a total of 4.38%


Tesla Cage:
This is your standard single target hold that, like Electric Fence, also drains some endurance. It does not stop knockdown. You have a choice of either this or Electric Fence at level 1. I'll give you one guess as to which one to take. Do I really have to say to take this?
When to Take: Level 1
How Often Used: Every fight
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 2-3 Hold, the remainder Rech
IO Slotting: I favor 4 Basilisk's Gaze to get the +7.5% recharge bonus. At level 30 those get you decent base stats which allows you to fill the last two with a Devastation Chance to Hold proc and the Lockdown Chance for +2 Mag proc. This gives a good chance of holding bosses when Dom isn't up and gives the ability to stack even more mag.


Chain Fences:
This is the standard AoE immobilize. Normally most AoE immobilizes on Doms get skipped, this one is a possible exception. It has both a -recovery and -endurance component. Fully slotted it has close to -200% recovery and -20% end (30% with Power Boost) in an AoE. This means that if you fire this off along with Power Boost, Static Field and Conductive Aura, you've got a quickly sapped group of enemies that stays sapped for a little while.
How Often Used: Every fight in a sapping build
When to Take: Tough to fit in with a defense build. If you forego the Fighting pool you could get it as early as level 10.
Standard Slotting: 2 Acc, 3 EndMod, 1 EndRdx
IO Slotting: Mixture of two Acc/EndRdx from Immob sets, one Acc/EndMod/Rech and two EndMod/Rech from Performance Shifter and Efficacy Adapters to max EndMod and Rech - OR - fill it up with Enfeebled Operation for a 4.38% melee defense bonus


Jolting Chain
I like this power. I don't use it a ton, but I still like it. When Jolting Chain is fired off at a target if it hits it will arc to a second target within range. If that hits then it will arc to a third target and so on. It will knock down targets, drain a base of 10 endurance, emparts a -100% base -recovery and, more importantly, serves as a great place to put a Devastation Chance to Hold proc. It has a chance to fire off on each mob it hits, meaning that it has a pretty good shot of going off at least once each time you fire the power off. Another possible proc to put in here is the Chance for -End from the Tempest set. This takes another 13% endurance away. Though one may argue that a single EndMod does better as it would give the same total endurance drain upon hitting four targets. It should be noted that procs that effect the player (e.g. Chance to Heal Self, Chance for Build Up) only have a chance to fire on the first target so really aren't worth slotting.
How Often Used: Most fights
When to Take: It helps a lot when it's available so take it at level 6
Standard Slotting: 1 Acc with optional additional EndMods
IO Slotting: 1 Acc IO, Devastation Chance to Hold - Optional: Devastation Acc/Dam (for the +12% regen), EndMod sets to taste


Conductive Aura
A great power, plain and simple. Conductive Aura is a toggle with a huge radius (20') that takes no endurance to run and both drains mobs around you and adds to your recovery and regen. Fully slotted with 6 mobs around you, you get a 30% recovery bonus which is better than base Stamina (25%). As mentioned earlier this power also boosts regen, but the value is so low that it's not worth slotting for.
How Often Used: Continuously
When to Take: When it's available at level 8
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 EndMod
IO Slotting: Frankenslot with one each of the Acc/EndMod/Rech and Acc/EndMod from Performance shifter and Efficacy Adapter. Another EndMod if you REALLY want to get the extra 6-7% EndMod bonus. Probably not worth the slot.


Static Field
Another GREAT power and possibly one of the best in the game. This location based AoE fires off a pulsing field that sleeps mobs in it. Normally sleeps are poopooed in the game, but this one is awesome. It pulses about every four seconds or so and puts things back to sleep that woke up. Additionally, it saps enemies and adds endurance to your friends (though annoyingly not you). It recharges quickly so is available multiple times per fight and has a HUGE radius.
How Often Used: Every fight, sometimes multiple times per fight
When to Take: When it's available at level 12
Standard Slotting: I never see this miss (**VALIDATE**) so I don't know that accuracies have any effect. Slot for max recharge and endmod.
IO Slotting: Frankenslot Performance Shifters and Efficacy Adapters to max EndMod and Rech.


Paralyzing Blast
This is a fairly standard AoE hold with all the goods and bads that go along with one. They tend to be good "oh *****" powers, but I don't like taking them. They aren't up enough to be used every fight and require significant slotting to be really useful.
How Often Used: If you take then it will likely be up every second or third fight
When to Take: I didn't take it so can't comment
Standard Slotting: AoE holds take a lot - 2-3 Acc, 2 Hold, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Frankenslot to max acc/hold/rech - OR - 4 Basilisks Gaze for the 7.5% recharge bonus


Synaptic Overload
Another unique power and one that I really like. It operates very similar to Jolting Chain, but instead of knockdown it confuses. All other effects are the same. Usually this gets about 4-5 mobs, but occasionally gets a lot more. It immediately takes a chunk of an enemy group out of the fight at the get-go and sets them to killing each other. Considering it can be up multiple times per fight, it literally is a life saver.
How Often Used: Every fight
When to Take: When it's available at level 26
Standard Slotting: 2 Acc, 1-2 Confuse, 2-3 Rech
IO Slotting: 5 Malaise Illusions for the 6.25% recharge bonus


Gremlins
These are your pets and, unfortunately, not the greatest. They have Jolting Chain and some other attacks, but don't seem to do a lot of damage and are also pretty fragile. Not the greatest pet in the game (and maybe close to the worst), but worth taking.
How Often Used: Continuously
When to Take: When it's available at level 32
Standard Slotting: 1 Acc, 3 Dam
IO Slotting: 4 Expedient Reinforcement for the +6.25% rech bonus



The Powers - Earth Assualt
As I mentioned early in the guide, Earth Assault represents a great pairing with Electric Control. Its preponderance of knockdown, extra huge damage hold, two non-cone AoEs and Power Boost. The mitigation in this set great that I find I don't use Tesla Cage except on troublesome lts and bosses.

Stone Spears
You have to take this tier 1 attack and luckily it's not a bad one. It is a ranged attack that does moderate damage (low for a dom) and has an 80% chance of knocking down your opponent. This makes it great for a little extra mitigation against mobs that are out of melee range and causing you some pain, but not enough pain to take your holds away from the bosses. A lot of Dom tier 1 attacks stink, this one doesn't.
How Often Used: Most fights
When to Take: Level 1 - Required
Standard Slotting: 1 Acc
IO Slotting: 1 Acc IO


Stone Mallet
Your first of Earth's "Big Three" melee attacks and a very good one. The damage is good and it does knockdown. enough said.
How Often Used: Every fight, all the time
When to Take: Level 2
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Damage, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Six slots of Touch of Death (for melee defense) or five of Crushing Impact (for +rech)


Tremor
This is your first AoE and it's a good one. Available at level 4, you will use it throughout your entire run to 50. It is a PBAoE with a large (15') radius that does decent damage. It also knocks down everything in range so provides great mitigation. The only downside is the 3.3 second animation time, though I don't mind it because it allows me to reach for chips or a drink after I fire it off.
How Often Used: Every fight, all the time
When to Take: Level 4
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Damage, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Six slots of Obliteration (for melee defense and recharge) or five of Obliteration (for +rech) and a Force Feedback +Rech proc


Hurl Boulder
There is really only one power I'm not fond of in the Earth Assault set and Hurl Boulder is it. It does "ok" damage, but has a long animation time and knocks its target back. Skip this and don't look back.
How Often Used: If you take it, rarely
When to Take: Don't
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Damage, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Either Devastation for regen and damage or Thunderstrike for ranged defense


Power Boost
Some people on the boards advocate skipping this power. Don't listen to them. Those are the folks who look at Power Boost as a way to increase controls and feel it doesn't have a spot in the attack chain. I look at it as an extremely versatile power that has a variety of uses, probably the least of which is making your hold last longer. Some things I use it for:

- Prior to jumping into each fight, fire it off and watch your defense from Weave, Combat Jumping and Stealth jump through the roof. On one of my builds I have a 33% melee defense and when Power Boost fires off it jumps to nearly 42%. Very nice for absorbing the alpha.

- Have some particularly nasty mobs you're fighting? Fire it off while you're in the middle of them and watch your endurance draining powers suck them dry in no time.

- As you will see later, I am a fan of the Ice APP from the hero side. This has in its arsenal the power Hoarfrost which both heals you and raises your hit points for its 2 minute duration. Fire Power Boost off prior to Hoarfrost and go from 55%ish heal to 88%.

- Use it with Sleet and raise the defense debuff up to about 60% - perfect for those Paragon Protectors who've gone into MoG mode.

Fun for the whole family.

How Often Used: Every fight
When to Take: When it's available at 16
Standard Slotting: 2-3 Recharge
IO Slotting: 2-3 Recharge IOs


Heavy Mallet
As the second of the Earth trifecta, Heavy Mallet does not disappoint. Essentially a more powerful version of Stone Mallet, it literally rocks.
How Often Used: Every fight, all the time
When to Take: Level 20
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Damage, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Six slots of Touch of Death (for melee defense) or five of Crushing Impact (for +rech)


Seismic Smash
The biggest, hardest hitter of the trifecta, Seismic Smash also is a mag 3 hold. This makes it quite nice for holding a boss in conjunction with Tesla Cage when Domination isn't up or when it is, holding an extra boss. This is a wonderful attack.
How Often Used: Every fight, all the time
When to Take: Level 28
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Damage, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: Six slots of Touch of Death (for melee defense) or five of Crushing Impact (for +rech)


Mud Pots
Normally Mud Pots is a great power. It's the only damage aura available to Dominators and has the added bonuses of slowing and immobilizing foes. Additionally, you can totally load it up on procs if you want to and it can do some really nice damage. The only issue is that it interferes somewhat with the sleep from Static Field so costs you some defense. The big question to you is whether you are willing to take that hit. If you team a lot then it probably doesn't hurt. If you solo then it may prove too detrimental. A lot depends on your play style.
How Often Used: Continually
When to Take: Level 35
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 2-3 Dam, 1-2 EndRdx
IO Slotting: 6 Obliterations for recharge and melee defense - OR - Frankenslot with 2-3 Acc/Dam/End and the rest damage procs


Fissure
This is honestly a little weak as a Tier 9 power, but still a good one (also consider that Seismic Smash is a Tier 9 in melee sets so you even out). It is a targeted AoE (meaning you target a mob instead of a location on the ground) and all mobs within 10' get knocked down and minions get disoriented. It has a slightly better recharge than Tremor as its damage.
How Often Used: Every fight, multiple times
When to Take: Level 38
Standard Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 2-3 Dam, 1-2 Rech
IO Slotting: 5 Positron's Blast and one Recharge IO


Patron/Epic Pools

With Issue 18 came the ability to go to either the standard CoV or CoH epic/patron pools. This is good as I like a lot of the hero options. Below

I go through each and talk the pluses and minuses.

Villain Patron Pools

Leviathon Mastery
Not a bad choice, but it does have a narrow cone which has limited effectiveness when you're in the middle of a group of foes. I do like Hibernate and of course Water Spout is always fun.

Mace Mastery
If not for the fact that you have to draw the dang thing to use it, this would be decent for one primary reason: Scorpion Shield for the Smashing/Lethal defense. I don't like the knockback in the AoE. Poisonous Ray is hardly worth using.

Mu Mastery
More AoE is good, more end drain is good, power sink is good for nearly immediate AoE drainage.

Soul Mastery
Another pretty good choice. You get more effective defense out of Dark Obliteration which can give you close to 16% AoE -tohit when slotted for such and behind Power Boost. That's worth it in itself. Then add in the perfect compliment to any melee build in Soul Drain and you've got a real winner. I really like this choice.


Hero Epic Pools

Fire Mastery
More AoE damage is always good and this epic gives both Rain of Fire and Fireball. The only bummer here is that RoF sort of spoils Static Field. Melt Armor isn't bad as it's an AoE -def and -res, albeit with low levels of each.

Ice Mastery
This is a good one. I like hibernate for those "oh *****" moments. I like Sleet for the huge -def and -res numbers (and knockdown). I like Hoarfrost for the heal and extra hit points (albeit with a long recharge). I like Frozen Armor for the Smash/Lethal defense. I like Ice Storm for the nice AoE damage (and good combo with Sleet). The problem? You can't take them all! The other issue is that Sleet and Ice Storm spoil Static Field (as with Fire), but unlike Fire you're getting two powers off that compliment each other quite well and Sleet has knockdown which helps with defense. If you can't tell, I really like this pool.

Primal Forces
Not a great match, in my opinion. Energy Transfer is great if you can heal yourself. When you can't it can become problematic. Conserve Power? Eh, you don't need it. Energy Torrent? Nice, but a narrow cone. Temp Invulnerability? Nice, but not great. Explosive Blast? Knockback = bad.

Psionic Mastery
Many Doms overlook this because of the Indomitable Will overlap with Domination. However, if you decide to NOT go for Perma-Dom then it can fill that mez protection hole quite nicely. Link minds is great for the extra defense and World of Confusion isn't bad to help stack with Synaptic Overload. Psionic Tornado is also a fun one. Again, if you want to focus on a defense build vs. a Perma-Dom build, you'd easily be able to cap melee and ranged defense (and Psionic too, while IW is up) and have full mez protection by going with Psionic Mastery.


Power Pools - in Order of Importance

Super Speed
This pool is about as close to a must as you can have for the purpose of taking Hasten.

Fighting Pool
Both Tough and Weave are important out of this pool. Tough as a mule for the Steadfast +3% defense and Weave for its defense.

Leaping
Combat Jumping is one of the biggest no-brainers to take in the game. You get a defense power for placement of a Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharge and a low endurance cost 2% defense that also gives immobilization protection.

Leadership
Primarily for Maneuvers, but I like Assault and Tactics too if you can fit them in

Concealment
Lots of powers to drop in LotG +7.5% recharge IOs plus extra defense

Medicine
Only if you want to be able to heal yourself and spend two powers to do it. Not a bad way to go.

Flight
Hover and Air Superiority are the key powers here. Hover gets you vertical combat movement, but you need a minimum of three slots to be effective. I'm not sure you need another knockdown power in AS, though it is a great power for most other builds.

Teleportation
Recall Friend is always nice to have and Teleport Foe is handy to bring those straggler mobs into your zone of death.

Presence
Why would you want taunt-like powers and you already have a power (Static Field) that mimics Fear to a certain extent.


Summary
To be written

I'm just surprised you called Stone Spears not the worst Assault T1 power.

I'm pretty sure that Static Field does have a chance to give you endurance. While I havent done any major testing, my experience to 50 shwoed much better endurance when standing in a static field than not, running the same attack chain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl [*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*

Heres my feedback

Jolting Chain: JC is a great proc power. The chance for -end and the damage procs do work in Jolting Chain and to great effect.

However I don't like the Hold Proc because it is only mag 2 and rather small chance. Too unrelyable to leverage and plus this is a Dom guide. If I need to stack mag on a boss I'll triggger Domination not rely on a proc.

Static Field: Yes it can miss and its very noticable when it does, they don't fall asleep.

Also yes it does restore end to the caster. The end restore is tied to its end drain, it has a chance (i think 30%) per enemy to drain thier end and when it does that, it restores some end to all friendlies in the field. Thus it is easy to not notice the end restore when solo.

Worth noting that Paralyzing Blast has a 100% chance for a -recovery debuff. I often use it on AVs and GMs that i've sapped to zero end to hold back thier attacks more.

Stone Spears does knock up, not knock down.

Tremor and Fissure knockdown chance are not 100%.

Mud Pots the primary complaint about this power is that the Dom version of the power has smaller range than others

Been thinking about this combo, and you guide is much more helpful than many other guides. I appreciate all the guides out there for what they are, but the fact that you take the time to describe each power in such detail really helps!

Kudos!