New to Dominators: Mind/ ?

Hi All,

I'm going to create my first Dominator today and was wondering about the Synergy between Mind and some of the secondaries. In particular:

Mind/Psi and Mind/Energy - These seem to be the Big 2 that I see mentioned in almost every Mind thread. What are the differences between the 2 sets. What do they excel at and what are their weaknesses?

Mind/Earth - I really can't find much information about this, but it seems like it'd work well to me. Open up with a group disable like Confusion or Sleep or something, and then run in and smash face. Am I missing something here? Is there a reason that I don't see this combination mentioned much?

My 50s are a Spines/Fire Scrapper and SS/Fire Brute, so I'm used to fighting very large groups of enemies. When people talk about soloing their Doms, are they talked 0/0, or much larger groups? I'm not exactly sure what I'd DO with this character at 50. I've got farming covered with my Brute. Maybe soloing AVs? Playing just for fun (nonsense!)? You tell me! What do you do with your 50 Mind Dom?

I would think Mind/Earth would start with a AoE Hold/Confuse/Sleep and you can go melee and pick them off. When sleep wears off, you can go in and use Tremor and Fissure with your AoE Hold/Confuse and your STs to stack for bosses.


I have Mind/Psi at 50 with her Common and Uncommon Alpha Slots unlocked. The Hold/Confuse powers are great and while her melee damage isnt great I do supplement her AoE damage with Bile Spray and Waterspout.

After the Dom revamp, /Psi is a gradual increase instead of the "PSW=GOD TIME" moments before the revamp. One nice thing about /Psi is Drain Psyche, It helps you regain HP/Endo when times are tough but requires you to be in melee range.

Mind/psi and Mind/energy are similar in that they do decent damage but focus on survival- but do it in different ways. /Psi has drain psyche to help your regen to heal you while things are held. Energy has a bunch of stuns/knocks to keep things from hurting you as much, and power boost to up control durations.

Play-wise, psi has a 'jack of all trades' approach, being quite decent at AOE, range, and pretty good at melee. Energy is much more single target based, but will do more damage to that target. Against hard targets, drain psyche from /psi doubles as a -regen debuff vs. AV's and heroes, while powerboost just lengthens what you have.

Mind/earth is very similar to mind/energy, just stick 'meleemeleemelee' in there. While energy is control/knock that is both close and ranged, /earth is control/knock that is both close and close focused. It has some ranged options, but it's basically a "punch you in the face" set. It also has a more AoE, but again in closer range.

I can't say which powerset is most uber, but I love my Mind/Fire. I prefer to play ranged, so my go-to fire attacks are Fire Blast, Blaze, and Fire Breath. I built the character with a huge amount of recharge bonuses for perma-Domination so I can pretty much machine gun Fire Blast and Blaze.

With high recharge and high End cost epic powers (Ice Storm and Sleet), the End refill from Domination sometimes doesn't come up fast enough, but Fire's Consume fills that gap.

I really love the character due to having so much control available yet also having hard hitting attacks too. I start fights in control mode, locking down large spawns. Once the team is fully engaged I switch to direct damage mode, while still making sure that potentially dangerous bosses are held or confused. It's a great feeling doing the alpha strike on a huge spawn that's normally very dangerous to squishies like Malta or Devouring Earth and being able to neuter them. It especially gives me a chuckle if we have a timid Tank and I just dive right in.

Since you're new to Doms I should mention that perma-Domination is nice but hardly a mandatory goal. I like it because with Domination up I can hold a boss in 1 shot, I don't have to worry about getting mezzed, and firing Domination fills my blue bar.

I don't normally go for uber expensive builds, but with this Dom I was like a car guy who obsessively spends money on his hot rod. I started with a reasonable build, then went for inexpensive purple sets for recharge bonuses, then started adding Luck of the Gamblers, then threw in a couple of expensive purple sets. Totaling it all up now, it's pretty crazy but I've enjoyed it every step of the way.

I've decided to go Mind/Earth, and I've put together a build in Mids. How does it look? I've tried to avoid Purples while keeping Hasten/Dom perma'd.


Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Earth Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:30(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:30(3), Hbntn-Sleep/Rng:30(3), Hbntn-EndRdx/Sleep:30(7), Dev'n-Hold%:30(9)
Level 1: Stone Spears -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg:53(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx:53(45), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg:53(45), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(45)
Level 2: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(42), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(43), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(43)
Level 4: Stone Mallet -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:53(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:53(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:53(5), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:53(23)
Level 6: Confuse -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:53(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:53(40), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:53(40), Mlais-Conf/Rng:53(42), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:53(42)
Level 8: Mass Hypnosis -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:53(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:53(9), CSndmn-Acc/EndRdx:53(19), CSndmn-Sleep/Rng:53(19), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:53(25)
Level 10: Tremor -- Oblit-Dmg:53(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:53(11), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:53(11), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:53(13), FrcFbk-Rechg%:53(15)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(15), RechRdx-I:50(17)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:53(A)
Level 16: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(17)
Level 18: Total Domination -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(25), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(27), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(27), Lock-%Hold:53(31)
Level 20: Heavy Mallet -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:53(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:53(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:53(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:53(43)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 24: Tactics -- GSFC-Build%:53(A), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx:53(50)
Level 26: Terrify -- Abys-Acc/Rchg:53(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear:53(34), Abys-Acc/EndRdx:53(34), Abys-Fear/Rng:53(37), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg:53(37)
Level 28: Seismic Smash -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:53(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:53(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:53(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(31), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:53(31)
Level 30: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:53(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:53(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:53(33), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:53(33), Mlais-Conf/Rng:53(33), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:53(34)
Level 35: Mud Pots -- Oblit-Dmg:53(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:53(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:53(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:53(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:53(37), Oblit-%Dam:53(46)
Level 38: Fissure -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:53(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:53(39), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:53(39), Posi-Dmg/Rng:53(39), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:53(40)
Level 41: Poisonous Ray -- Achilles-ResDeb%:20(A), Achilles-DefDeb/Rchg:20(46)
Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:53(A), HO:Enzym(46)
Level 47: Levitate -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB:53(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB:53(48), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB:53(48), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx:53(48), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB:53(50), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB:53(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:53(A)
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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
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A)

Mind/Ice is one I never see brought up; It seems unusual enough and on paper it actually looks reasonably strong, sharing Psyche's -Recharges, decent AoE and unusual damage type benefit, having fast-casting single target damage chains, and taking Energy's Power Boost for extended mez effects. Can any Dom experts vouch for or strongly suspect that it holds great endgame efficacy?

I have Mind/Ice sitting at level 45, and he was about the first villain I created, way back when CoV launched. I just started playing him again, but it's been awhile. He still has Acrobatics and a full-SO build. I definitely haven't changed his build since the big Dom changes. The build I have now is especially bad in that it highlights and enhances his main weaknesses, the biggest being endurance costs.

This guy is fun; don't get me wrong, and Bitter Ice Blast is still a thing to behold even with his paltry strength. But all of the toggles I had picked up for this character were used situationally. There was pretty much no keeping any of them on all the time, and he would blow through his blue bar faster than maybe anything I have ever seen even without them.

What was especially galling was that my mind/sonic controller outperformed him in every way. Why is the character without an awesome ice sword making the one with a sword look like SUCH A LOSER? The answer partly that I didn't know much about building a good dom, and partly because there weren't a lot of ways to do it anyway back then. Still, when he has endurance to burn, and when Hasten is up, he's a killer.

Which highlights the strengths of this combo quite nicely. I'm playing around with updating his build with all the modern conveniences of Issue 18+, and here's an early one. It has very little AoE, and it is riddled with my personal preferences, and it still looks tough. And expensive. I always build expensive and find cheap alternatives later. The AoE powers drop in pretty nicely, if you want them to. He's a permadom, and a perma-hasten, if you pick the right Alpha.


Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Popliteal: Level 50 Mutation Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Icy Assault
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Presence
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep(3), CSndmn-Acc/EndRdx(3), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(25), CSndmn-Heal%(36)
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(25)
Level 2: Dominate -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(7), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Decim-Build%(31), UbrkCons-Hold(34)
Level 4: Levitate -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 6: Super Jump -- Winter-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(A), Winter-ResSlow(34)
Level 8: Confuse -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(11), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(13), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(23), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(42), CoPers-Conf%(50)
Level 10: Ice Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(15), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Winter-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(15), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 16: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 18: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(21), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(23), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(40), FtnHyp-Plct%(46)
Level 20: Telekinesis -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 22: Challenge -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Intimidate -- Acc-I(A)
Level 26: Terrify -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(27), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(29), Ragnrk-Knock%(36)
Level 28: Invoke Panic -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(29), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(31), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(31), Abys-Dam%(46)
Level 30: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(33), Mlais-Conf/Rng(33), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(33), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(40), Mlais-Dam%(42)
Level 35: Ice Slash -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(37), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(37), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Hectmb-Dam%(45)
Level 38: Bitter Ice Blast -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(39), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(39), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Apoc-Dam%(43)
Level 41: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(42)
Level 44: Dark Embrace -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), Aegis-ResDam(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45)
Level 47: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(48), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Weave -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(50), LkGmblr-Rchg+(50)
Level 50: Spiritual Total Radial Revamp
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(19), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(19), Efficacy-EndMod(48)