To answer your criteria:
Good holds: Any of the Control sets will do really, I'd give the edge to Earth Control for Volcanic Gasses though. Earth Assault has Seismic Smash which holds.
Healing: Irrelevant... Well, there's Spirit Tree but that's a bit poopy.
DPS: Fiery Assault, Plant Control... Others are more for subjective, like Energy Assault is good for single target damage.
Support: Most of the Control sets. Thorny Assault, Icy Assault and Psionic Assault have decent debuffs in their attacks.
So there isn't really anything that can do all of it.
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Two things: #1 What is your budget?|
Originally Posted by cybrstorm
Anywho, I am looking to build a Dominator that can do the following
- Good holds - Healing - Can contribute in the DPS department (wont reach the DPS of a blaster or scrapper, I know this upfront...just want to contribute, however if there is a secondary that does really good DPS that would be beneficial) - Great team support So, what combo would fit the bill for this, if there is a combo that can do all of that and what would the build look like. Any help would be appreciated. |
#2 There are dominator builds that exceed the DPS of the top blaster builds. Up until i19 The three highest damage characters across all ATs were in order: #1 Ill/Cold Controller, Crab (the VEAT), and then Fire/Fire/Scorpion Dom (sitting @ over 400 DPS).
These days I'm not sure, but I still have the fire/fire build and am working to tweak it because since then we've gotten access to the hero APPs, and I believe that sleet is better than poison ray and we now get fitness as inherent so more powers available and at different levels. So an i21 version could be far better even without incarnate powers.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Careful... that Ill/Cold build is only high on the damage scale because of -Regen affecting the target used as a benchmark (a Rikti pilon). It does good effective damage against big targets because the -Regen affects the kill time, not because it does huge actual damage. Against normal enemies Illusion Controllers have hilariously mediocre damage... even Stalkers can do better. 
Don't have a ton of inf, maybe 50 mil or so. I am returning to the game to play along side my wife who is brand new to the game, and two friends that will be coming from DDO as soon as COH goes F2P. I am looking for a toon that can do control, heal and hold its own in the DPS department. Basically a team support oriented character that can still do good damage. Thats why I was initially looking into Doms. Never played one before and it seems like it would be fun. I am not really looking to min/max the toon, just looking for something fun to play to support the group I will be running with until they get an initial grasp on their toons, while still keeping up on the damage side of things.
A day without sunshine is like...you know...night time.
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I think that if your primary concerns are control and support first and damage second, you will probably want to try a controller instead of a dominator. There are definitely controller builds that can hold their own in the damage department while also providing more direct support.|
Originally Posted by cybrstorm
Don't have a ton of inf, maybe 50 mil or so. I am returning to the game to play along side my wife who is brand new to the game, and two friends that will be coming from DDO as soon as COH goes F2P. I am looking for a toon that can do control, heal and hold its own in the DPS department. Basically a team support oriented character that can still do good damage. Thats why I was initially looking into Doms. Never played one before and it seems like it would be fun. I am not really looking to min/max the toon, just looking for something fun to play to support the group I will be running with until they get an initial grasp on their toons, while still keeping up on the damage side of things.
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Also I would not really want to play a dominator without going for permadom, which will be difficult on a 50 mil budget.
Dominators really "support" by keeping things locked down and then killing them, not with buffs or heals (although as mentioned a number of Dom secondaries do have decent debuffs).
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You won't really find a Dom that can do healing. It's not what Doms do. It's like looking for a Scrapper that does healing. Closest you can get is Spirit Tree, and it's a pretty minor boost. As for the others:|
Originally Posted by cybrstorm
Anywho, I am looking to build a Dominator that can do the following
- Good holds - Healing - Can contribute in the DPS department (wont reach the DPS of a blaster or scrapper, I know this upfront...just want to contribute, however if there is a secondary that does really good DPS that would be beneficial) - Great team support So, what combo would fit the bill for this, if there is a combo that can do all of that and what would the build look like. Any help would be appreciated. |
Every Dom has good holds because every Dom has at least a single target and AoE hold. If you want above and beyond, Earth Control has a really potent AoE hold and its pet can hold. Gravity and Ice also have pets that hold. In secondaries, Earth Assault can hold with Seismic Smash, and Energy, Earth, and Ice have Power Boost for longer mezzes.
For DPS the good options are Fire and Earth. Some sets just don't have enough AoE, like Elec and Energy. Thorns I'm not sure of the numbers on but it may be good if you can handle the cones. For epics I'd take Fire or Ice. Some primaries add good damage like Fire Control and Plant Control.
For team support that boils down to mezzing enemies the easiest. That'd be Fire Control, Earth Control, Plant Control, and Mind Control. If you want to toss some extra mezzes and soft control in from secondaries that gives you Earth Assault, Energy Assault, and Ice Assault.
The best Dom I managed to put together is Plant/Earth/Fire. She has really powerful attacks whether in ST or AoE. And her carrion creeper vines add more damage. Her confuse recharges about 5x faster than its duration and she has Seismic for extra holds. She hits hard and mezzes hard, and in AV fights I even have Spirit Tree, although I wouldn't count that as a major addition (it's a little helpful though).
But I'm also messing with a Fire/Thorn Dom recently and I tend to like her thus far. It's hard to go wrong with fire.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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Nothing locks down enemies and makes me feel like a powerhouse quite like my Earth/Storm Controller... Thing is a beast.
With Dom's though, I'd lean towards Plant/Thorn myself.
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
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Keep Calm & Chive On!
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Then you've never tried an Earth/Trick Arrow. Beastly controls, mostly soft, but very little damage. That is where */Storm shines for 'Trollers as my Ill/Storm is finding out.
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Originally Posted by MaestroMavius
Nothing locks down enemies and makes me feel like a powerhouse quite like my Earth/Storm Controller... Thing is a beast.
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You will find as a returning player that 50 million means very little...
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
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Holds: The best for this are Mind control and Earth control for sheer lockdown. That said, there are no 'bad' lockdown sets for a dominators.|
Originally Posted by cybrstorm
Anywho, I am looking to build a Dominator that can do the following
- Good holds - Healing - Can contribute in the DPS department (wont reach the DPS of a blaster or scrapper, I know this upfront...just want to contribute, however if there is a secondary that does really good DPS that would be beneficial) - Great team support |
(I would advise against starting on an ice/ or gravity/ dom, though, as those are more challenging to wrangle, fire/ as well to a lesser extent.)
Healing: Dominators are only capable of team hp recovery through spirit tree, (plant control) and self hp recovery through drain psyche. (Psy assault)
Healing isn't a dominator thing- in fact, dominators play almost identically to blasters with control powers, that just happened to trade in some nukes/attacks for controls.
DPS: Anything works here. Fire is highest damage, no mitigation. /Earth is high control, high close damage. Thorns has decent AoE, with a medium-range bent. /Psy has a great survival buff/enemy debuff, with a great mix of effects and ranges. (AoE/ranged/close) Electric has a damage boost and good ranged/close damage. (Less AoE) Energy has lots of mitigation, and good ST damage. Ice has another mix of ranges, and some unique debuffs.
Team support: The funny thing is with doms, you have about the same team support as self support. You lock things down, and kill them. Locked down things can't hurt you OR your team. The best sets on team are ones with lots of quick enemy lockdown, usually enough to be regularly available. The winners here are in order (With a lower budget) Earth, Mind, Plant, Electric. Earth has lots of lockdown, and does great on SO's. Mind has tons of options, and great follow-up ST controls. (can be slower on AOE lockdown without IO's) Plant has seeds just about all the time, and carrion creepers to distract/damage. Electric has confusion and a pulsing sleep patch, and a sapping aura.
It has also been said that few archetypes give as much in return for investment in io's as doms. +recharge in particular helps controls/attacks come up faster, thus helping your own team/self survival through enemy control and defeats. Oh, and it boosts how often your "Awesome" button recharges.
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This. |
Originally Posted by Seldom
... dominators play almost identically to blasters with control powers, that just happened to trade in some nukes/attacks for controls.
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You know how to play a blaster. If you play a dom you can do pretty much the same only a bit safer as you have the mobs locked down and are immune to mez (with Domination).
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That's true. But against anything where you need higher damage than a blaster the -regen and -res do come into play.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Careful... that Ill/Cold build is only high on the damage scale because of -Regen affecting the target used as a benchmark (a Rikti pilon). It does good effective damage against big targets because the -Regen affects the kill time, not because it does huge actual damage. Against normal enemies Illusion Controllers have hilariously mediocre damage... even Stalkers can do better.
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"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Quote:
I'll recommend Plant/fire.|
Originally Posted by cybrstorm
Don't have a ton of inf, maybe 50 mil or so. I am returning to the game to play along side my wife who is brand new to the game, and two friends that will be coming from DDO as soon as COH goes F2P. I am looking for a toon that can do control, heal and hold its own in the DPS department. Basically a team support oriented character that can still do good damage. Thats why I was initially looking into Doms. Never played one before and it seems like it would be fun. I am not really looking to min/max the toon, just looking for something fun to play to support the group I will be running with until they get an initial grasp on their toons, while still keeping up on the damage side of things.
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Plant has some good powers that have very affordable IOs (sleep, confuse, etc). Carrion Creepers actually do better with SOs or common IOs than sets (except for damage procs) because it's a weird power. This makes your key set cheap.
As others have said, doms don't heal. But plant has a few tricks. Very early it gets a confuse that you can use to get enemy healer onto your side temporarily, or a skyraider's forcefield generator. Plus all those guys now on your side aren't attacking your team, reducing incoming damage significantly. It does get a spirit tree for faster regen, but that's not so powerful. It's a nice help. Creeper vines also have the great effect of drawing aggro. So while you don't heal you do protect the team alot, and all of these except the tree also cause damage while protecting.
All attack sets will be comparable in damage, but fire has the best output. Plant has wonderful early mitigation so the lack of a secondary effect with fire won't hurt you as much.
also, check this thread, Seebs is dead serious about the offer and you are exactly the kind of person he's looking to help out.
Next, look into hero/villain merits for tip missions (can start any time after level 20) and they will let you get any recipe you want for free. I recommend Luck of the gambler +recharge, Numina's regen/recovery, and miracle +recovery. Then craft and sell and use the money to buy what you actually want/need.
Last, a note about healing: It is hands down an without question the absolute worst form of survival in CoH. That is not to say it has no value. But you never "need" a healer. And 99.99999% of the time if you think you do, you really need more defense. Stacked maneuvers (from the pool power) or a defender/corrupter with forcefields will do vastly more to keep you alive than the most powerful heals in the game. If you can't get defense, then resist is second. Sonic and thermal are both great sources of +resist for teams. Only once defense is capped and resist is as high as you can get it, do you look to healing to make up anything else.
the key reason is that healing can only replace what you lost. On a squishy, you don't have much room to lose. Defense can cause that 6,500-point attack from an enraged Bobcat (AV at the end of Tin Mage taskforce) to miss completely. No healer can keep you alive if the attack hits. Resist can cause the 6,500-point attack to only deal 650 if it hits (but for us squishies it's still 1,650 which will drop us anyway except for the 1-shot code).
So don't focus on healing. Look for defense, then resist, then heals are nice to add on.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
I am a returning player from 2 years away from the game. Now that you can play a Dominator on the hero side, I thought I would give them a shot. The only thing I have played in the past has been Blasters and Scrappers. I am unfamiliar with Controllers and Dominators. I have recently rolled a Corrupter with /dark and I enjoyed the heals and debuffs/slows (tarpit) it provides for team play.
Anywho, I am looking to build a Dominator that can do the following
- Good holds
- Healing
- Can contribute in the DPS department (wont reach the DPS of a blaster or scrapper, I know this upfront...just want to contribute, however if there is a secondary that does really good DPS that would be beneficial)
- Great team support
So, what combo would fit the bill for this, if there is a combo that can do all of that and what would the build look like. Any help would be appreciated.
A day without sunshine is like...you know...night time.