Hello and welcome to the journey of the Dominator.. IMHO one of the most rewarding AT's in the game.
Dominators in general excel at two things. Control and Damage. Unlike their cousin the Controller, Dominators do not focus on support. The Dominator playstyle I tend to describe as Lock em Down.. Knock em Down.... Control them and then take them out. Dominators when domination is active excel at control and they in general do more damage that Controllers.. You can always use control and you will ALWAYS need damage.
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Are you saying then that controls are useful vs. the big bads in things like incarnate trials? I'm certainly aware that dominators do damage, but it seems like if all you need on the big bads is damage then (at least in those fights alone) you are better off bringing a scrapper/blaster/brute/whatever. I'm just wondering if there is a dominator primary that is useful in those fights.
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Originally Posted by Airhammer
Hello and welcome to the journey of the Dominator.. IMHO one of the most rewarding AT's in the game.
Dominators in general excel at two things. Control and Damage. Unlike their cousin the Controller, Dominators do not focus on support. The Dominator playstyle I tend to describe as Lock em Down.. Knock em Down.... Control them and then take them out. Dominators when domination is active excel at control and they in general do more damage that Controllers.. You can always use control and you will ALWAYS need damage. |
No you're not going to be holding one of the big AVs in any of the incarnate trials like a regular AV; however a /Fire dom can do great single target dps in the AV fights in the incarnate trials using a competitve incinerate>blaze>fire blast attack chain, while also being able to lock down all the bosses and elite bosses faster than anyone else can throughout the rest of the trial. Going //ice mastery also provides an incredibly useful debuff in the form of sleet.
edit to add: In incarnate trials hard control >>> soft control. Things die far too fast for soft control to really be useful, but if you're fast enough locking down a mob fast as your group goes in can prevent alot of damage, if you're trial isnt over buffed.
I have an Elec/Elec Dom that is very, very useful in all of the end game content. For example, in the Recluse SF, I'm capable of sleeping the AVs while my team picks them off one at a time. In Tin Mage, I can sleep one of the War Walkers while my team (and I) work on Synapse or Bobcat.
As far as Incarnate Trials are concerned, I have very little problem in Lambda if I get separated in the warehouses and need to solo a crate or container. In BAF, I can drop my sleep patch or AoE hold on the adds as they spawn so they aren't fighting back.
IMHO, part of the problem with building with Incarnate Trials in mind is that in my experience, most of the player's coming on iTrials bring their "A-Game" toons. These are usually the toons that are IO'd to the gills and in regular PvE content at least, can tackle most problems without outside help. A fully IO'd Dom does damage that is close enough to a fully IO'd Blaster or Scrapper that it's not worth playing something you don't like just to do an extra ~10-15% damage on a hard target in an iTrial.
In other words, play what you like and unless you're dealing with a highly specialized Master of X badge team, there should always be room for you on an iTrial. I've run extensive trials with my Dominator, Blaster, Corruptor, and Tank and, on Triumph at least, I've always been welcome.
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First let me address the notion that support is unnecessary. This is absolutely not the case. Buffs make everyone in the league more survivable, and the debuffs from multiple sources make the AV's noticeable weaker. (In this game, damage + debuffs will almost always outpace damage + more damage. How fortunate that doms now have access to Sleet?) There are portions of trials that favor damage or survivablity, however, the do not compose the entire trial. |
Originally Posted by Mordheim
Hey,
As someone that hasn't gotten that far, I was wondering what, if any, dominator primaries are useful in things like incarnate trials. With all of the comments about resistances and such, it seems as though the support and control aren't really effective in such things. Is that overblown? If not, do soft controls work (like Ice)? What about endurance drains from Elec? |
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Originally Posted by Mordheim
Are you saying then that controls are useful vs. the big bads in things like incarnate trials? I'm certainly aware that dominators do damage, but it seems like if all you need on the big bads is damage then (at least in those fights alone) you are better off bringing a scrapper/blaster/brute/whatever. I'm just wondering if there is a dominator primary that is useful in those fights.
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Doms are top notch. In the right hands, with the right build, they're nearly unstoppable.
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This is solid advice and let me add a bit more as well. During Marauder's fight, there are more adds coming all the time. Especially during master runs. During the Siege/Nightstar fights reinforcements show up every 30 seconds. In the Underground against the Avatar, there are waves of very deadly reinforcements. Someone has to deal with them and locking them down is key to keeping a lot of squishies alive. |
Originally Posted by ketch
You seem concerned with how you'll contribute to the AV fights without considering the other portions of the trials. It's true you won't be holding these AVs, but don't discount your damage contribution or fail to remember the challenges that lead up to that fight. In the BAF, for instance, you can contain the escapees and manage the adds during the AV fight. Or in Lambda, you can control mobs allowing your league mates safe passage from one objective to the next. Heck, there have been a few times I've solo'ed parts of the lab or warehouse on my earth/fire/ice dom.
Doms are top notch. In the right hands, with the right build, they're nearly unstoppable. |
So Antimatter is the only climactic battle where hard controls don't play an important role. And even in Keyes, getting there is far easier with strong use of lockdown powers.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
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Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
plant/psy dom example. Every mob, bosses included, is locked down with seeds and roots (and if immune to conf, vines). All of a sudden, it no longer matters the team's defense, hp, or resist levels when the enemies no longer attack. Oh and hard targets such as AVs? perma 1200% regen debuff and 30% resist debuff courtesy of drain psyche and sleet. Yea, doms are useful in the endgame imo.
I appreciate the responses. I'm not surprised that the concerns over being useless in "boss fights" were overblown, but it's always nice to hear how and why. That said, is there a particular primary that finds greater use with things like incarnate trials in mind or does it just follow the normal rules of primaries (like earth/plant being more effective and gravity and such being completely useless)?
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Originally Posted by Little_Whorn
plant/psy dom example. Every mob, bosses included, is locked down with seeds and roots (and if immune to conf, vines). All of a sudden, it no longer matters the team's defense, hp, or resist levels when the enemies no longer attack. Oh and hard targets such as AVs? perma 1200% regen debuff and 30% resist debuff courtesy of drain psyche and sleet. Yea, doms are useful in the endgame imo.
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Where are you getting 1200% from? Drain Psyche is -500% isn't it?
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Hi. I'm not sure how far you've gone into playing dominators, but what are these "normal rules of primaries" and how does gravity become "completely useless?"|
Originally Posted by Mordheim
...That said, is there a particular primary that finds greater use with things like incarnate trials in mind or does it just follow the normal rules of primaries (like earth/plant being more effective and gravity and such being completely useless)?
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This is, of course, the internet. I know that flights of whimsy and hyperbole are common. As someone who "hasn't gotten that far," you may not want to write anything off. For example, Gravity control gets Singularity - and, subsequently, one of the easiest pathing roadblocks to stop non-lieutenant escapees during the BAF. Otherwise, Singularity's repel is a helpful safe haven from melee attackers and a great source of additional control.
The Incarnate Trials remain full of non-AV enemies who can hit hard. Bringing controls for situations in which the influx of mobs can overrun players who bite off more than they can chew or simply for when locking down a group long enough for others to complete an objective and move can be invaluable. Additionally, most AV fights include waves of attackers which provide opportunities for control to be of great value.
Dominator primaries can offers a number of tools to help in endgame content, but be careful with investing more in conventional wisdom than in time spent personally investigating powers and the situations you may encounter.
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That amount is enhanceable. My plant/psi has hers around 900% though it seems you could push it as high as 1500% with Spiritual Core in your Alpha slot.
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Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
Where are you getting 1200% from? Drain Psyche is -500% isn't it?
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Yup, you got it. It's, to my knowledge, the only regen debuff power that is enhanceable.
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Originally Posted by ketch
That amount is enhanceable. My plant/psi has hers around 900% though it seems you could push it as high as 1500% with Spiritual Core in your Alpha slot.
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My Mind/Fire Dom is pretty much tied with my SS/SD Brute as my favorite Incarnate character. Mind/Fire's mix of aggro mitigation tools, AoE and single target damage is pretty awesome. My main concern is splash damage if I'm hanging close to a character drawing a lot of aggro.
My Brute is more sturdy and can cause a lot of localized carnage but the Dom is more rewarding to play. You have to be a little more on your toes, and think a little more tactically instead of just going all "Hulk smash!"
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Not particularly - the iTrials are designed to have elements that specific archetypes are good at, but they're not so picky that one member of that archetype is much better than another. On the BAF for example, any dominator that's taken their AoE Immob can basically lock down all the minions by themselves, and keep all the adds in the same place. A decent spammable AoE mez helps a lot too obviously (sleep patch, knockdown patch, Seeds of Confusion, etc).|
Originally Posted by Mordheim
That said, is there a particular primary that finds greater use with things like incarnate trials in mind or does it just follow the normal rules of primaries (like earth/plant being more effective and gravity and such being completely useless)?
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As for Gravity, on the BAF you can drop Singularity at a choke and it will actually repel 100% of the minions by itself, which means you don't really have to worry about them at all.
On the Lambda trials you can also control the groups that are sitting around the containment chambers / grenade boxes, so if your team is light on survivability, you can handle those enemies long enough for the group (or yourself, if you're confident) to blow up the object in question and move on.
Plus, against anything where your control isn't exactly useful (ganging up on Marauder f.ex), you can add a lot of DPS which is always useful.
love taking my Mind/Psi on Trials 
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You can get it up to 1169.3%, I am pretty sure he was rounding to the enarest 100%
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Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
Where are you getting 1200% from? Drain Psyche is -500% isn't it?
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Keep in mind... nobody is important in the incarnate trials... you just need numbers and some organization. So while in one respect, you're correct in fearing that you powers are not particularly needed in the trials... you'd also be correct if you had that fear for every other AT in the game as well, not just dominators.
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
Hey,
As someone that hasn't gotten that far, I was wondering what, if any, dominator primaries are useful in things like incarnate trials. With all of the comments about resistances and such, it seems as though the support and control aren't really effective in such things. Is that overblown? If not, do soft controls work (like Ice)? What about endurance drains from Elec?