Mind doms and my way towards Perma-dom-- Erm, I mean lvl 50

Hi guys,

Having recently made a mind/thorn dom and have gotten him to lvl 33, I can't help but feeling squishy when playing with him. Whenever people mention Mind doms, many people think of beasts with the power to break down hard targets as well as being able to surmount hordes of enemies (at least me regarding the second feat). As it is, though, I have a couple of issues regarding Mind doms that I would like expert advice with.

(WARNING: Somewhat large amount of text incoming)

First-off, soloing. As it is, I can JUST manage soloing x2 without the biggest beat-ups. When fighting mobs, I usually start with Mass Hypno to lock down the enemies, then work my way through the minions with my ST chain (which for thorn is, at least in my opinion, quite strong). Typically I can beat 2 minions before the rest of the mob wakes up. Here I use Terrify to lock them down again, then defeat 1 minion and then confuse the last minion to help me beat up the lieutenant, which I lock down with dominate. When Domination activates, I usually use Mass Confusion on the biggest mob I can find, or a Boss mob, and then AoE on them while enjoying their carnage. If not, then I use Total Domination to lock the whole mob down and then use AoE on them and ST on Lieutenants. I also use Thorntrops in these situations.

As it is, I have quite grim envisions about attempting to defeat x8 mobs, heck, even x5 in itself, without slaying my inspiration bar. Furthermore, when I have talked with people about this toon and my big expectations regarding Mass Confusion, some have argued that it is not the most important part of Mind Control's survivability/mitigation. Can someone please confirm or deny this?

Regarding teamplay, what would be the optimal way for a mind dom to contribute to the team? When I play on teams, I usually work like a weak blaster in that I first throw out my mitigation, Terrify, and then start AoE-ing stuff with Fling Thorns and Thorn Burst. I use Terrify to at least attempt to make the mobs do less damage to my teammates. I use my ST attacks against lieutenants and Bosses. When domination activates, I use same tactic as in soloing with domination.

Now, the reason I write this, as I said, is because I think there's something I'm doing wrong when playing my dom. I have listed my playstyle with the toon, and now I'd like some advice as to why I might be doing something wrong when playing.

Sounds like you're not leveraging Confuse enough. Pre-Permadom, Mind can be a bit slow to solo, but it's safe. After you use MH on a mob you should confuse a couple of them - particularly the ones that will give you trouble like bosses and LTs or some minions like Sappers. The duration of Confuse should last longer than MH so once they wake up, they'll immediately start attacking each other. If you have multiple bosses, Mesmerize is your friend as it can sleep them in 1 hit without Domination.

While MC is Mind's strongest power, I don't think it adds as much to your survival as MH and Terrify does because of recharge times.

For team play, you'll want to figure out what the pesky mobs are that you'll be fighting (I'll use a Sapper as an example, again). If possible, skip slightly ahead of your team and confuse these pesky mobs. Then use MH while waiting for your team to arrive. When they have, use Terrify and go to town on the bosses while using your AoE attacks to mow down the lower ranks.

Before you're able to get into Permadom, the slotting of your powers will dictate just how effective you can be. Frankenslotting set IOs will greatly help in this regard.

Thank you for your help Infini, it will most likely do me good

A couple questions though: Firstly, WILL I altogether be able to play at x8 when having unlocked perma-dom? I see you have a mind dom yourself, can it solo at higher difficulties? And how much will the AoE potential of the secondary be needed in order to more properly deal with higher difficulties?

Regarding MC, with perma-dom, will it be a stronger tool than MH/terrify, and what with TD? As it is, I am expecting a lot from MC and TD, but is that me being wrong about something?

Ultimately, regarding Thorny Assault as a set, should I ultimately consider Ripper an AoE or ST attack?

I have 3 PermaDoms.

1) Plant/Fire....Easily handles 0x8 and probably my fave Dom so far. Plant is a beast.

2) Mind/Psi.... Easily handles 0x8. Don't judge it yet. Wait until you get the powers IOd and PermaDom. I wouldn't judge any toon before IOs are placed. They wake the powers up tremendously. Not only will your Dom be perma, but most of you powers will be, too.

3) Fire/Thorny... I just hit 50 with this one over the weekend and IOd it. It is softcapd S/N/L defense and 38% melee defense and 160% rech. It can easily handle 0x8. I didn't take Ripper though. Mainly due to the sets i needed to reach softcap defense and i love more Ranged and AoE attacks on the Doms. Keeps you safer, imo. And you can use the Rag chance for KD in Thorntrops.

Like Infini said, the Epic pools are great, too. I went Ice for Frozen Armors 14% defense. So, i took Sleet to Debuff them and Ice Storm for even more AoE carnage.

Total Dom, Sleet, Ice Storm, Fling Thorns, Thorn Burst, Thorn Barrage/Ripper on lt.s or bosses.

Next mob, start with Mass Confusion and follow the same chain. With enough recharge, Total Dom will be up at least every other mob. My Cinders are and they have the same 240sec downtime.

Good Luck and have fun.

The thing about Mind Control is it doesn't play too nice with AoE's. Your 2 lower recharging AoE controls are good at shutting down enemies, but they rely on not doing any damage to the targets afterwards.

Confuse is what you should be using the most. You can quickly take the bosses out of the equation and have their damage along with it. Dominate can shut down other hard targets too. The same with Mesmerize, but it doesn't work too well with AoE's and Confuse.

Mind can be one of the safest soloers in the game, but it certainly won't be the fastest. However, once you get IO'd out, reach permadom and get some defense, you'll be fine.