Earth control is great but Earth Assault still needs work. That mud pot seems out of place if you ask me.
I made an Elec/Earth to 50 when Elec control came out. It was a fun combo but it is nowhere as good as /Fiery. My /Earth has problem doing good damage against certain AVs and ITF because soul drain does auto damage and I have to be at melee range to do good damage. I didn't even bring my Elec/Earth to Apex.
Part of the problem with certain Assault sets is that their damage is lowered by the fact that they have "secondary effects" like knock backs and slow debuff. This is a bit "flawed" because my Dominator rarely attacks without controlling first. I have no problem going melee but I need to control first. If a target is already "controlled", most of those secondary effects seem unnecessary, don't you think? This is why /Fiery makes sense because you control first and then do the most damage you can before the duration runs out.
They should have given Earth Assault Earth Embrace or something to allow Dom to be more sturdy when controls don't work.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Quote:
mud pots may seem outta place as for as secondaries are concern, but i believe it fits with the earth primary to give the combo some type of aura. same as hot feet, conductive aura, creepers, and arctic air. now this is just theory of course. |
Originally Posted by Jibikao
Earth control is great but Earth Assault still needs work. That mud pot seems out of place if you ask me.
I made an Elec/Earth to 50 when Elec control came out. It was a fun combo but it is nowhere as good as /Fiery. My /Earth has problem doing good damage against certain AVs and ITF because soul drain does auto damage and I have to be at melee range to do good damage. I didn't even bring my Elec/Earth to Apex. Part of the problem with certain Assault sets is that their damage is lowered by the fact that they have "secondary effects" like knock backs and slow debuff. This is a bit "flawed" because my Dominator rarely attacks without controlling first. I have no problem going melee but I need to control first. If a target is already "controlled", most of those secondary effects seem unnecessary, don't you think? This is why /Fiery makes sense because you control first and then do the most damage you can before the duration runs out. They should have given Earth Assault Earth Embrace or something to allow Dom to be more sturdy when controls don't work. |
i get what you're saying as far as secondary effects compared to fire's damage is concerned. but i don't think that's as big of an issue overall. because there are still other factors to consider. for instance, PVP or AV/EB's. hitting someone with a fire attack may hurt sure, but hitting that same someone with an attack that lowered their regen, or slowed their recovery or recharge, or knocked them down so you can get off another attack before they even get up... all can be just as effective. and in some cases more effective. most of my deaths came from the secondary effect crippling me first.
earth assault getting earth embrace is a waste imo. hoarfrost is still available in ice mastery and does the same thing almost. it's a little longer recharge and 10% less hit points, but it's more than adequate for a dom. my survival is so high that rarely every need it.
it think earth assault was design to be a brute in a doms body. and that was my draw to it. my two favorite AT's in one.
let me start off by stating that this isn't my claim that earth/earth is the best dominator combo. i can make that argument based on what i've been able to accomplish, but i can say the same about my mind/fire too.
no, this is just to give an insight to those curious about the build and what it's play style, role, and potential consist of according to my build. mind you, i don't pvp so i wont touch on that.
47.4 S/L defense means you can take the alpha in almost any map. with power boost it's 66.7, which means in some cases (which i've done) you can heard like a brute/tanker.
132.5 +rech means you're permadom without the need a hasten. so no need ever worry about mez protection because you forgot to click something. with hasten you're sitting at 202.5 which makes the best AOE hold for doms semi-perma. volcanic gasses won't be affected by domination so you can't increase it's duration. but you can have up after a 6 second cool down. imagine doing that with mass confusion?
after playing and tweaking the build for a while i've come to realize which powers are pretty much essential, and which are mules.
essential powers that you have to take no matter what...fossilize, stalagmites, seismic smash.
semi-essential... earthquake, volcanic gasses, stone mallet, heavy mallet
good to have... animate stone, power boost, tremor, fissure
rarely use... stone cages, hurl boulder. both are situational powers
never use/mule... salt crystals, stone spears
ancillary/epic pool...
Ice Mastery gives you the best bang for your buck. Sleet makes you relevant a whole lot more on teams. Hoarfrost gives a heal in case you took a hit during an alpha. Frozen Armor takes you from squishy to semi-tank. and Ice Storm gives you added aoe and control. every power is useful in Ice Mastery.
some powers didn't make the cut.
Quicksand might be somewhat useful at low levels because it's auto hit and can help with accuracy issues. but it very quickly becomes overshadowed and pointless for end-game play. with powers like sleet, ice storm, earthquake, and stalagmites, there's simply no need or time to place QS down. plus it's not even a good mule for IO's.
Mud Pots kept me on the fence till i finally had to let it go. the endurance usage is too much to bare when considering it's effectiveness. things die way too fast for it's small 8 ft radius to be a factor. it's good for a purple set mule. but i'd rather use the cheaper salt crystal set as a mule than something as expensive as Armageddon.
survival tips.
Power Boost is your friend. use wisely.
Earthquake is sneaky nice. because EQ isn't a lock down power, it's true effectiveness may be watered down so to speak. a closer look and you'll notice that -To-Hit (-25) sitting quietly in the corner soaking up a lot of potential damage. when stacked with power boost you become very hard to hit.
now imagine a power boosted Frozen Armor (66 for alpha and soft-capped 47 s/l def) and EQ (-25 -to-hit). then throw in VG that has all baddies within a massive 60ft range choking for 60 secs. survive for 6 secs with a boosted EQ and stalagmites and place VG down again. now you can see how an earth/earth dom can farm an ambush map with ease.
as far as incarnates go?
Alpha... i went with Musculature Core Paragon to add 45% damage since i slotted my heavy hitters with Kinect Combats. and the 33% defensive debuff benefits earth's secondary effects.
Judgement... i choose Void for the PBaoe to pair with tremor and fissure.
Destiny... i grabbed the heal for team play, survival and my pet.
Interface... what can i say? Reactive Radial Flawless Interface. what not to love about -res and extra damage?
Lore... idk yet. not sure which pet is the best fit. maybe someone can help me out with that.
last but not least. i don't have a travel power. reason being is pretty simple. only about 5% for my time is used on traveling from mission to mission. and for that 5% ninja run is more than enough. just an fyi a power boosted ninja run (or beast run) plus sprint will have you running at 82.5 mph (based for super speed i believe). for vertical movement the jet pack is serviceable. trust me. no one is ever waiting for me to enter the mission because of the lack of a travel power. and to all doms, i suggest getting the frenzy power. you load. hit frenzy. permadom til ya log or die. and with this build dying doesn't happen often. also this build wasn't set up in mids for exempting down.
here's my build. i've had so much fun and experienced the god-like power first hand. so i wanted to share with others that may be interested in it's performance.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Dominator
Primary Power Set: Earth Control
Secondary Power Set: Earth Assault
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Fossilize
- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (31) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (36) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
- (36) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
Level 1: Stone Spears- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (11) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (11) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (17) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (17) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Level 2: Stone Mallet- (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
- (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
- (23) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 4: Tremor- (A) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (5) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
- (5) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
- (37) Obliteration - Damage
- (40) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
- (42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Level 6: Stone Cages- (A) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Endurance
- (7) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Recharge
- (7) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge
- (9) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold
- (9) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
Level 8: Combat Jumping- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 10: Hurl Boulder- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (25) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (34) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (34) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (42) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Level 12: Stalagmites- (A) Absolute Amazement - Endurance/Stun
- (13) Absolute Amazement - Stun
- (13) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge
- (15) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
- (15) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge
Level 14: Hasten- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (31) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 16: Power Boost- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 18: Earthquake- (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge
- (19) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance
- (19) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance
- (25) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff
Level 20: Heavy Mallet- (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
- (21) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
- (21) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
- (23) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 22: Maneuvers- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 24: Stealth- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 26: Volcanic Gasses- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (27) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
- (27) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
- (34) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
Level 28: Seismic Smash- (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
- (29) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
- (29) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
- (31) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 30: Invisibility- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 32: Animate Stone- (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
- (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
- (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
Level 35: Salt Crystals- (A) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep
- (37) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Endurance
- (40) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Recharge
- (43) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge
- (43) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Recharge
Level 38: Fissure- (A) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (39) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (39) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (39) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (40) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
Level 41: Sleet- (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff
Level 44: Hoarfrost- (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal
- (45) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
- (45) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (45) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (46) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
Level 47: Ice Storm- (A) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
- (48) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (48) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
- (48) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance
- (50) Ragnarok - Damage
Level 49: Frozen Armor- (A) HamiO:Membrane Exposure
- (50) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (50) HamiO:Membrane Exposure
Level 0: Born In BattleLevel 0: High Pain Threshold
Level 0: Invader
Level 0: Marshal
Level 50: Void Judgement
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface
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Level 1: Brawl
- (A) Kinetic Combat - Knockdown Bonus
- (37) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
- (43) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
- (46) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
Level 1: Sprint- (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth
Level 2: Rest- (A) Empty
Level 1: DominationLevel 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift
- (A) Run Speed IO
Level 2: Hurdle- (A) Jumping IO
Level 2: Health- (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (36) Miracle - +Recovery
Level 2: Stamina