Fire/fire - how do you survive?

I've been messing around with doms now for a bit, and have played fire/fire, earth/fire, and earth/earth (there's a theme in there somewhere...).

I really enjoyed the damage and chaos that fire/fire can do, but I was having serious survival issues in the lower levels. I think I stopped at 18 when I realized a 3 minion spawn could conceivably kill me.

I was curious how fire/fire builds survive in the mid levels, before the crazy recharge that allows you to do funny stuff. It seems the only real defense you have is Char and Hot Feet, but Hot Feet is horrible on the end bar and still allows things to hit you before they run away again.

I'd love some tips on survival, I'm liking doms quite a bit, and the fire/fire build just sounded so fun, but I can't live long enough to do it!

What I did to survive was playing aggressively. Very aggressively. My main strategy was "hold a problem enemy, kill the rest before they kill you", which is admittedly hard to do before you get a few attacks in you.

I am not great at Doms, my highest being 46 (my current...so close) However i did run just about all the builds up to around 22-23 concurrently. Just to see what they could do, including Fire/Fire. Now this is regular teaming, which i believe is the only way to run Doms (personal opinion). I can solo stuff, but Brutes are just easier for me solo. on a team of course, like withe all being squishy, it is agro management. Drop in behind the Brute or Tank after they get the attention of a group, and just kill everything around the Brute. Hold the Boss on the Brute, make your friends life easier. And just damage the crap outta everything around you.

My current build does not have a ton of global recharge yet, and only got hasten at 44. It is a Grav/Nrg. that means my AoE hold was up only a little faster than Dom was recharging. Wormhole up a little more often. I run this build on the ITF, and did the LGTF last night. Agro management again. Do not irritate everybody so that you can do minor/moderate damage. Instead, i ST hold a guy and take him down. Even with Bosses it doesnt take that long. i pick the meanest guys Bosses, Sappers, Widows, etc. I take them out of the fight, then i take them outta the world. i save up my AoE hold for a moment when the team seems to be struggling, or it is the perfect moment on a fresh spawn.

At 50, I will be around 117% Global recharge, plus Hasten. At that point i will have my AoE hold popping every spawn, and life will get easier. But still, it is agro management, agro management, agro management. Especially in places like TFs. It is really easy for a big room to have way more individuals than you can lock down. Pick your battles, knowing you can win them before you start. start small, build your technique. i can wormhole like an artist now. it's fun, and placing the mobs exactly where I want them is so rewarding. GL

Lead with flashfires. Followup with AoE immbolize. Then combustion/hot feet/etc. dead mob.

If you are 18 here are some key powers you should have.

Char, I heard that you said you had it so that is a plus

FlashFire, nice AoE control for fire, allows you to take multiple targets out of a fight, even at lower levels you should still be able to have it up atleast every other mob.

Fire Cages, nice damage and goes well with FlashFire to turn it from an AoE Stun to an AoE hold. If you toss the Posi proc in it, it adds a quite noticable damage boost. Use a higher level alt to get 2 A merits grab the level 20 recipe, craft it and slot it, and you are good. Also will keep enemies from running out of Hot Feet.

Some nice utility powers to have.

Hover or Combat Jumping or both, adds a nice little defense bonus, and a nice LotG spot, even if not going for permadom it is always nice to have more recharge for controls.

Maneuvers, Great power for you, your team, and your pets. Recommended for most ATs. Also another great LotG spot.

Smoke, if you have the room, mean for regular enemies it is a great power. It's a low to hit debuff but when stacked with the defense from the other 2 powers it puts you at about 10% pop a luck and now you are at 22.5%. If you have the room it is a nice power to have if not, don't lose sleep.

Things that weren't commented on.

Fiery Assault, Yeah, pretty self explanitory. You should have everything offered up to this point, the only one I can understand, somewhat, is combustion, and that is if you were trying to stay out of melee range, but that isn't a case since you have Hot Feet, so you should have every power.

Cinders, Pre SO levels I don't really like AoE holds for Trollers and Doms, they require a lot of slotting, they need Accuracy, Recharge and Duration, and none of which are that noticable til later levels, I mean you could get it and slot it so that when you get to the later levels all you have to do is enhance it, but if you grabbed it at 20 and slotted it 21, You should be good for SO slotting by 22.

On a final note. Don't be afraid to use insperations.

I just started a Fire/Fire dom and it is so much fun. Flashfire is a must to slot up as soon as possible.

If you don't slot Fire Cages for accuracy, you can use the power to split spawns into smaller more manageable groups by breaking line of sight and taking care of those who weren't immobilized.

Thanks so much for all of the advice.

Having read the forums a bit, I had skipped Fire Cages since it seemed the consensus was that it worked against Hot Feet too much. Sounds like I need to give it a go and see how it works specifically with Flashfire.

It's funny, I really had to stop a moment and look at things to realize that the 1.5 min recharge on Flashfire isn't that much, especially with the amount of recharge I'll be looking at in the future. I've begun slotting it and using it whenever it's up, and hoo baby, does that make things easier! Even without Fire Cages, it's really effective to Flashfire then jump into melee, since Hot Feet slows them down enough to get out the Combustion.

Thanks again dom forum, you've definitely helped me out and renewed my love for this build.