I can provide some insight into this combo, as I have one. First Electric Assault is a very solid set, you get 2 big melee hitters and build up. Its a bit meh on AOE but plant has decent enough AOE damage on it's own. Elec can also be light on power selections, which depending on your preference can be good or bad. You can easily skip a few powers in ELEC and not feel gimped. That opens up space for some other goodies. Want Tough/Weave, no problem. Full leadership, no problem.
Voltaic isn't that bad, sure its no big hitter and it expensive, but it's damage can add and it is damage that is being done without you clicking anything. Elec is great at burst damage, from my experience I have taken an Earth/Elec and a Mind/Elec to high lvls.
I actually find slotting the tier 1 for damage is pretty good, it has a rather impressive DPA for a tier 1 and beats Lightning Bolt. Between that and the 2 melees plus the cone, I don't really need any other attacks from the set. I took thunderstrike as a purely conceptual reason. Something about having a mob confused in Creepers then running in and jumping sky high and crashing down feels good to me. May not keep it in final build, since the creepers and immob halt a lot of the KD goodness from it, but it is still fun and adds a bit more AOE damage, no much mind you but any AOE prolly beats no AOE and can't be that bad.
The Ice Epic, which I am leaning towards when I hit 41, will add some very nice thematic touches. 2 Rains on top of Electrical blast will give it that force of nature feeling. Tho Mako has waterspout as well, so it is a tough call.
They look amazing coupled together and I find it to be very thematic. It may not be the king of damage, and you will certainly not be a FoTM, but you will be strong with reasonable damage output, some nice -end and have a blast if you stick with it. Just don't put to high an expectation on it and enjoy the ride.
I run a Plant/Elec, and right now she's one of my strongest offensive characters. Both Plant/ and /Elec give most of their value in relatively few power selections, granting considerable freedom to take ancillary or slot mule powers.
Elec Assault is notably stronger than Elec Blast, primarily because it gets versions of Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch that are almost as powerful as their Blaster Elec Manipulation versions. Thunder Strike is amusing, but since it has the low DPA, knockback and weak splash damage of the Blaster version rather than the significant splash damage and knockdown of the Elec Melee version I chose to pass it over.
The mandatory tier 1 blast, the two fast melee strikes, and the cone are sufficient for most of your combat needs; I also took the snipe as a set mule and occasional utility power, and the Sentinel for added DPA when fighting hard targets. The cone and the AoE immob from Plant add up to fairly decent AoE damage - it's no Fire, of course, but it does the job.
The Ice ancillary is, frankly, insane. Sleet is more or less exactly as good as the Def/Corr version, applying a large sticky debuff to defense, resistance, runspeed, and recharge, as well as making enemies inside the patch flop at random - quite handy when dealing with sleep/confuse resistant enemies such as Nemesis soldiers.
Hibernate is also particularly handy on Plant/Elec/Ice, simply because you have so many ongoing effects that can change the tactical situation while you are immobile and invincible. With confused enemies attacking each other, Creepers popping up, your two pets attacking, and Sleet, Roots, and Ice Storm ticking away, you can end up defeating a significant portion of a spawn while turtled up and be in a much better position when you come out than when you went in.
It's probably possible to build Plant/Elec for high defense, but I wasn't interested, so I made my ancillary power selections with an eye toward recharge. The Concealment pool is handy as a place to stick LotG +Rech IOs, and it doesn't hurt that Stealth + Superspeed grants full PvE invisibility, allowing you to maneuver for optimum cone placement before opening a fight. I also took Aid Other/Self, as I've found that Dominators tend to take a few hits even when everything is going relatively well, and it helps to be able to top up between fights.
I found Plant/Elec to be very effective from 1 to 50: you get a strong area control and two solid single target attacks very early, and a host of fun tricks as you level up.
@SPTrashcan
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I'm trying do decide which powers are skippable. Obviously, Entangle can be skipped. Spirit Tree is optional, but could be taken for a nice Regen boost. Spore Burst is not that useful on teams, but makes good back-up control when solo.
Where I'm having some questions is on the Assault side. Dominator damage sets are a combination of blasts and melee attacks. On the electric side, is Charged Brawl worth taking? I tend to try to stay more at range, but will run in if a foe is held or confused. In the low levels, I'm missing an extra attack and having to fill in with my Vet attacks. In upper levels, is there a need for Charged Brawl?
As I said in the first post, I like Voltaic Sentinel on my Defenders -- I find it to be efficient to pre-cast a pet, and have that pet doing damage while I'm otherwise busy. Build Up and Thunderous Strike seem like obvious takes. How is the cone?
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Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Charged brawl is a good dpa attack. Thunderstrike is garbage in my opinion. Takes too long to animate and does meh damage to go with its high mag radial knockback(only time it was decent on doms was when it had no targetcap). Cone is decent.
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Ah, thanks for the insight. I guess Charged Brawl is worth taking. Thunderstrike is an important power for my Elec/Shield scrapper, but you are suggesting that it is less important for a Plant/Elec Dom. Thunderstrike is knockback instead of Knockdown? (I read the description -- that's what it says.) That makes a difference.|
Originally Posted by SpittingTrashcan
I run a Plant/Elec, and right now she's one of my strongest offensive characters. Both Plant/ and /Elec give most of their value in relatively few power selections, granting considerable freedom to take ancillary or slot mule powers.
Elec Assault is notably stronger than Elec Blast, primarily because it gets versions of Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch that are almost as powerful as their Blaster Elec Manipulation versions. Thunder Strike is amusing, but since it has the low DPA, knockback and weak splash damage of the Blaster version rather than the significant splash damage and knockdown of the Elec Melee version I chose to pass it over. The mandatory tier 1 blast, the two fast melee strikes, and the cone are sufficient for most of your combat needs; I also took the snipe as a set mule and occasional utility power, and the Sentinel for added DPA when fighting hard targets. The cone and the AoE immob from Plant add up to fairly decent AoE damage - it's no Fire, of course, but it does the job. The Ice ancillary is, frankly, insane. Sleet is more or less exactly as good as the Def/Corr version, applying a large sticky debuff to defense, resistance, runspeed, and recharge, as well as making enemies inside the patch flop at random - quite handy when dealing with sleep/confuse resistant enemies such as Nemesis soldiers. Hibernate is also particularly handy on Plant/Elec/Ice, simply because you have so many ongoing effects that can change the tactical situation while you are immobile and invincible. With confused enemies attacking each other, Creepers popping up, your two pets attacking, and Sleet, Roots, and Ice Storm ticking away, you can end up defeating a significant portion of a spawn while turtled up and be in a much better position when you come out than when you went in. It's probably possible to build Plant/Elec for high defense, but I wasn't interested, so I made my ancillary power selections with an eye toward recharge. The Concealment pool is handy as a place to stick LotG +Rech IOs, and it doesn't hurt that Stealth + Superspeed grants full PvE invisibility, allowing you to maneuver for optimum cone placement before opening a fight. I also took Aid Other/Self, as I've found that Dominators tend to take a few hits even when everything is going relatively well, and it helps to be able to top up between fights. I found Plant/Elec to be very effective from 1 to 50: you get a strong area control and two solid single target attacks very early, and a host of fun tricks as you level up. |
I'm generally not all that concerned about DPA. I want to defeat foes reasonably quickly, but I am more interested in power effects and combos. I like developing strategies. (That's one reason I like my Grav/Storm controller -- it doesn't kill fast, but with some good strategy, it can be mostly safe and can hit hard.) I don't mind knockback at times, as long as it can be used strategically. If that is the intent of Thunderstrike, then I may take it to try it, but will keep your suggestions in mind . . . I may put it off for a second build.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Quote:
You like to stay at range but choose elec as your secondary? lol. Anywho charged brawl is pretty decent, whereas thunderous strike will more than likely get you killed and doesnt do enough damage on a dom to warrant the longish animation, on stalker and scrapper, even brutes its fine but on doms (wags finger).
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
I'm trying do decide which powers are skippable. Obviously, Entangle can be skipped. Spirit Tree is optional, but could be taken for a nice Regen boost. Spore Burst is not that useful on teams, but makes good back-up control when solo.
Where I'm having some questions is on the Assault side. Dominator damage sets are a combination of blasts and melee attacks. On the electric side, is Charged Brawl worth taking? I tend to try to stay more at range, but will run in if a foe is held or confused. In the low levels, I'm missing an extra attack and having to fill in with my Vet attacks. In upper levels, is there a need for Charged Brawl? As I said in the first post, I like Voltaic Sentinel on my Defenders -- I find it to be efficient to pre-cast a pet, and have that pet doing damage while I'm otherwise busy. Build Up and Thunderous Strike seem like obvious takes. How is the cone? |
Quote:
As I said in my original post, this was a concept character, and I don't know Dominator secondaries very well. (I don't play Red-side all that much. Of my twenty-somthing level 50 characters, only one is a Villain, a Thugs/Dark MM.) I certainly don't mind running into melee when it is best for the powerset combo. So, this character will play like a Blapper with controls. That should be interesting since I generally build my Blasters as ranged characters.|
Originally Posted by Lord_Saigon
You like to stay at range but choose elec as your secondary? lol. Anywho charged brawl is pretty decent, whereas thunderous strike will more than likely get you killed and doesnt do enough damage on a dom to warrant the longish animation, on stalker and scrapper, even brutes its fine but on doms (wags finger).
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OK, this overall helps . . . take Charged Brawl, skip Thunderous Strike unless there's nothing else I need. Thanks!
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Quote:
One thing you should probably keep in mind is that Dominators are not analogous to Controllers. People see the control/active mitigation primary in both ATs and assume they play similarly, but this is a very incorrect impression. My personal opinion is that the closest analogue redside to a Controller is a Mastermind - both archetypes focus on strategic layering of complex effects to achieve a scenario of cumulative victory.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Ah, thanks for the insight. I guess Charged Brawl is worth taking. Thunderstrike is an important power for my Elec/Shield scrapper, but you are suggesting that it is less important for a Plant/Elec Dom. Thunderstrike is knockback instead of Knockdown? (I read the description -- that's what it says.) That makes a difference.
I'm generally not all that concerned about DPA. I want to defeat foes reasonably quickly, but I am more interested in power effects and combos. I like developing strategies. (That's one reason I like my Grav/Storm controller -- it doesn't kill fast, but with some good strategy, it can be mostly safe and can hit hard.) I don't mind knockback at times, as long as it can be used strategically. If that is the intent of Thunderstrike, then I may take it to try it, but will keep your suggestions in mind . . . I may put it off for a second build. |
My Dominator play snapped into focus when I started playing like a Blaster. Like a Blaster, the Dominator creates early advantage with active mitigation, then quickly sweeps up with overwhelming damage output. The main difference is that the Dominator's active mitigation is more effective, while the damage output is on average slightly lower. But in my opinion you should absolutely be aware of and focused on your personal damage output, because it is a significant part of the way Dominators play.
Note that, compared to a Controller, your active control does not last as long, and you have no fallback mitigation from a support secondary. This means that you cannot take your time defeating enemies, which is why damage output is important. In the early levels for my Plant/Elec, before Seeds came into play, my approach to a spawn would generally be to throw the ST hold on the most dangerous enemy, quickly dispatch the second with burst damage, then hold the third and beat down the first. Contrast with a Grav/Storm, which would not have the capability to take out any enemy quickly, but would have enough control and mitigation tools between the primary and secondary to effect a slow but steady takedown.
Another thing to take into consideration is that Dominators derive an enormous benefit from getting to 70% or higher global recharge (plus Hasten): permadom. Because your build will probably be aiming for this level of recharge, you won't need to have a lot of different active powers in order to maintain activity, so it makes sense to take the best and leave the rest. Against single targets, my Plant/Elec throws a hold to keep the target still and then alternates Charged Bolts, Charged Brawl, and Havoc Punch nonstop. Against multiple targets, I start with Seeds and then rain down whatever AoE is up. I don't have backup control powers: Seeds recharges in well under 30 seconds, so why bother? The AoE hold is worth considering, but Spore Burst is pretty much useless because one or another of your pets is going to wake up those enemies anyway. I used to have it, I don't have it, and I don't miss it. The only reason I'd consider taking it now is because I can put a cheap sleep set in it and get slightly more recharge than I get from my cheap snipe set.
Here's my short list of things that are not skippable:
Strangler
Roots
Seeds
Creepers
Flytrap
Charged Bolts
Charged Brawl
Havoc Punch
Build Up
Static Discharge
And that's it. Those powers are probably 95% of my core power use.
It's important to note that the Thunderstrike from Electric Melee and the Thunderstrike from Electric Assault and Electric Manipulation are very different powers. Elec Melee Thunderstrike has a high chance of knocking down enemies and deals about 50% of its damage in its splash zone. Elec Assault/Manip Thunderstrike has a high chance of knocking back enemies and deals about 10% of its damage in its splash zone. The radial knockback from Thunderstrike is almost never useful - it basically can't be used to consolidate enemies or to drive them in a particular direction, only to scatter them to the four winds. Melee Thunderstrike is a core power; Assault/Manip Thunderstrike is for entertainment purposes only. On the other hand, your AoE immob is also -KB, so if you throw it down first you can use Thunderstrike as a mediocre attack without the side effects.
One caveat to the above: until your build does start shaping up, you might want a few more powers to fill in the gaps, because using a less effective power is better than doing nothing. I did have Lightning Bolt and Thunderstrike in my attack chain for a while. But if you're like me, you'll eventually find yourself not needing them, and then it's time for them to go.
All of the above, I must emphasize, is my opinion. YMMV. But I wouldn't say it if I didn't have reason to believe it.
@SPTrashcan
Avatar by Toxic_Shia
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I took a quick look at the guides and the threads in this forum for previous discussions: Plenty of Plant/Fire, Plant/Thorn and a few Plant/Psi. I didn't spot any discussions on Plant/Elec.
Now, I'm pretty familiar with Plant Control, as I have both Plant/Rad ("Pot Holder") and Plant/Kin ("Flora the Explorer") Controllers at 50. I'm also pretty familiar with Electric Blast, as I have a Dark/Elec (The original "Local Man") Defender at 50 and a Kin/Elec ("Sultan Battery") Defender at 47. I also have an Elec/Shield ("Ohm Depot") Scrapper at 50.
When I thought of the name, I had to make a Plant/Elec Dom -- "Ohm and Garden." But while I have lots of experience in the game, I really haven't played Dominators much. So, he sat around for a few months, and I just pulled him out today and got him up to level 16. Any thoughts, recommendations or other comments about a Plant/Elec?
Yeah, I know that Elec Blast is pretty poor. Lots of folks hate Voltaic Sentinel -- I kind of like Sparky but would rather have a big blast power. The single target damage on Elec is also lacking . . . the melee set lives on AoE, especially Lightning Rod. So, I'm concerned that this combo will stink, even though I'm pretty fond of the name. How can I get to love this guy?
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control