Jibikao

Primary Sets:

1. One Dark Blast. The aoe immb can be really helpful especially all of you are ranged and it will help Rain of Fire and Ice Storm.

2. One Ice or Electricity Blast: Single hold can be really helpful.


Basically, I would go with one Dark Blast, two Ice Blast and Sonic Blast. You can replace Ice Blast with Fire Blast if you want.


As for secondaries, you want some mez protection so I would go with either /thermal or /pain.

Typically a /Dark is really good for aoe and fear and debuffs. /Radiation is only good if you want to pull them together.


Final list:

Ice/Dark (or Fire/Dark)
Ice/Storm (Hurrican is good!)
Dark/Cold Domination (TT keeps them in Freezing Rain)
Sonic/Thermal or Pain


Hurrican is good if all 4 of you stand within the radius. No melee can get close!

But honestly, any secondary can stack up to an overpowering state.

I say probably Energy Blast.

I've seen quite a few Dark Blast and Assault Rifle.

Oh, two THREE powers in the game:

Time Bomb: I am not spending 8s to set up a bomb... I am sorry. That is just not going to happen. And if I want to pull mobs to me, I'll set several Trip Mines instead!

Poison Trap in /Poison: Hello?? 4s interrupt with a lousy Sleep trap??

Merc's Serum: 60s of so-so god-mode with endurance crash and no psionic protection and 1000s recharge. I might just save some purples for my Commando.


Hell, I even had a little fun with Stalker's Repluse in Energy Aura.

In PvE,

Corruptor: Sonic Resonance
- I've tried almost all Corruptor secondaries and I think /Sonic is the weakest and it can get boring. This is just based on my experience anyway.

Mastermind: Trick Arrow
- The debuff values are quite low on MM's modifier and it has bad synergy with melee pets even though Ninja/TA has a "good" theme. You'll be resummoning a lot with Ninja or Necro/TA. I have yet to see a high level Necro/TA!

Stalker: Martial Arts
- The set is not broken but in terms of single-target damage, I see both Energy Melee and Dark Melee being better and serving more purposes. Martial Arts just has style.

Stalker: Electricity Armor
- I am sorry but this secondary is pretty awful on Stalker any way I look at it. Stalkers have much better choices than /Elec. /Elec on Brute makes much more sense.


The two most under-performing sets I say are Stalker's Electricity Armor and Mastermind's Trick Arrow.


Oh, honorable mention: Mastermind's Poison. Yes, yes, yes I know it has two SPECIAL SINGLE TARGET debuffs in the game. I don't need to be reminded 1000x times. I have a lvl 50 Merc/Poison (my very first 50 MM)!!! Comparing to Merc/Storm, Merc/Poison truly sucks. I didn't list it as the "most" under-performing only because the special debuff has its place in the game and that is about it. /Poison sucks in pretty much every other area (minus soloing but which MM can't solo??).

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OK is it me or is the Oni AI just totally borked. I watched him for a solid 5 minutes throw nothing but Fire Blast then watch on the next group for another solid 5 minutes throw nothing but ring of fire?

Has any one else noticed this behavior he has to have the worst use of an attack chain I have seen...

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I made several long comments about both Oni and Jounins a while ago and people didn't seem to respond much.

But yes, if you pay attention to Oni, his AI is really quite weird. He is the only boss that doesn't cycle everything. It could be because if he cycles everything, he is too powerful?

Basically with the first upgrade, your Oni will spend a lot of time using only Ring of Fire (and Breath of Fire when it's up).

When Oni draws sword, he won't cycle anything else but those two attacks unless that target is dead.

When you have two upgrades, Oni mostly only cycle Ring of Fire and Char and randomly throw out Breath of Fire and Rain of Fire.

Oni's old AI used to be quite predictable and it's a GOOD thing. Oni used to open the battle with Breath of Fire all the time. You can put Smoke Flash on him and goto him to mid-range. He no longer does that anymore. He still uses Breath of Fire but it's pretty unpredictable.


Jounins also seem to have bad AI as well but the reason Ninja still does good damage is that Genin's damage output is very high now.

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Or even /kinetics?

What would you combine them with?

I think I'd go with Bots/Rad and probably Ninja/Kin...

Here's hopin'...

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I made an Elec/Rad Corruptor and /Rad is by far my least favorite secondary.

However, MM can afford running those expensive toggles a lot easier than Corr/Defender (at least during lowbie lvls).


As for /Kin, I can see a Ninja/Kin or Necro/Kin, although Castle said it before that we won't see MM/kin. But hey, they also said that we wouldn't be able to "customize" powers and it is going to happen!

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I have a cool concept for a Nin/TA MM but have never really been able
to get into them (not past like, level 12). Is this a good combo for casual
solo play?
North

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If it's just soloing, it's definitely doable. Just take Ice Arrow to hold one, attack another. Your Oni can hold the 2nd target too most of the time.

Take Aid Other when they need heal. It REALLY helps.

Ninja/TA has good theme but you will be resummoning a lot of times. The debuff values from TA are usually not good enough to keep those genins alive. Poison Gas Arrow's damage debuff is almost non-noticeable. The slow debuffs from Glue Arrow is better on a team setting than soloing.

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Being that both may be available options to the player, regardless of 'side'; how do you believe the new Dom will stack up against the Controller?

Which will be your preference when the opportunity arises?

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I actually think Dominator VS Blaster is a more accurate comparison but it's just me.

In terms of control, Dominator is still superior most of the time but it's the buff/debuff that Controllers excel.

Dominator can bring a lot of damage while offering one of the best controls in the game. I think Blaster only beats Dominator in burst damage department.


PS: And I'll throw in Fortunata into the mis too. Fort is just too good.

I think Ice/Ice is overkill on slow debuff but it has a good theme for sure.

Jack Frost VS Imps? You don't need to babysit Jack as much as he has slow around him and when he is chasing the target, he won't aggro as much. As for those Imps, you really need to watch where they are chasing... you gotta Spank the Monkeys sometimes!


I have an Ice/Fiery. I enjoy a lot.

Ice is probably the least "controllish" of all the primary sets. Your main aoe control is soft control. My twin bro doesn't like Ice control much. He enjoys Earth control a lot more.

I used to really like Ice/Psi when Shockwave was on 10s recharge. That's a lot of pbaoe in Artic Air and Shockwave.


If this is your first dom, I would go with Fire/Ice.

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My Fire/Energy is currently level 33 and my only slotted attacks (not counting Fire Imps) are Bone Smasher, Power Blast, and Total Focus.

If I am going to drop one of them for Power Push, which one should I drop. I will say that my favorite of my 3 current attacks is Power Blast, even though it has the weakest damage in Mids' planner. That is because I prefer ranged as well. I love blasting guys, way more than punching guys, even if the punching damage is more.

But, I'll listen to arguments. Which one should I drop to take Power Push?

Thanks,

Lewis

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I actually skipped Bone Smasher. I think Power Push, Power Blast and Power Burst are good enough attack chains and you can just throw in Total Focus when you see a tough target. Bone Smasher only does a bit more damage than Power Blast. Power Blast is the best attack right now IMO. Power Push is fast but as Mind/Energy, I have no -kb and sometimes it gets annoying that the target keeps getting pushed further and further.

You are Fire/Energy so you have -kb in ring of fire which will help your Imps when you use Power Push (the imps don't attack until the target is about to get up).

I have one at lvl 43.

I would use Lift for full Kinetic Crash set. You get kb protection and 7.5% recharge.

Lift is now doing the same damage as Ice Blast. I won't invest much in Ice Bolt (no more than 2 slots). You can invest more at lower lvls but respec those slots out.

Take Power Boost.

I skipped Chilling Embrace. I may try it again with more sets. I am having endurance issue currently.


You should try Dimension Shift on test before taking it. It's a very debatable/situational power.


Use Wormhole carefully.

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From what I've read Mid's is no longer updating the program, but another player has decided to try and update the program. But that's all I know.

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Oh DoH!

Ok, let me see if I get this right. I have a lvl 39 Ice/Fiery and I thought my damage is better than before but that could be because he has no sets, just pure SOs.

1. Current /Fiery's DoT damage does not benefit from the new damage buff which leads to a little bit less damage than before with Domination, right?

2. Flare is worse than before (luckily I hate that power anyway)

3. Fire Blast does less damage in the long-run but I enjoy the burst damage. One thing I don't understand about all the concern on old Flare is that once you have some +recharge, your old Fire Blast recharge so fast that do you even have time to use Flare? With the new buff, Fire Blast is on 8s which can be brought down to 4-5s with +recharge. I like the new changes.


I think Castle already said that he needs to look into the DoT damage so once that's been adjusted, I am sure /Fiery will perform even better. So far, I like /Fiery more and mainly due to the change on Fire Blast. I thought the old 1.5s Flare and 4s Fire Blast were too overlapping once you have +recharge. When my level is higher and with sets, I won't even invest in Flare. Just Fire Blast, Incinerate and Blaze is good enough IMO. I mean I still need to spend time controlling.

I just took it. I haven't used it much because the endurance cost is pretty high now. I'll use more once I put sets into it.

I like the bigger radius.

Anyone know when Mids' Hero Builder gonna have a new version that shows Dom's buffs? I just checked the website and the last update is on June 15 which is before I15.

8 MMs on a tea = Lag Fest!!!!

I've tried it once. I didn't like it. I couldn't really tell what was going on.

However, I've upgraded my computer since that experience so I may enjoy a bit more now....

Merc/Storm is the only lvl 50 MM that I would keep playing. A lot of 50 toons just retire once they hit 50.


I used to like my lvl 46 Necro/Storm a lot because I built him with tohit debuff sets in Grave Knights and Lich so they can shoot dark blast and gloom faster but the dev nerfed that. I haven't gone back to him at all after the nerf. This could be my #2 most favorite.


I find my lvl 50 Merc/Poison quite lacking on a large team. I don't enjoy him as much as I spend way more time resummoning.

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Not sure about others but lowbie doms are GREAT! I basically just save my domination for full endurance bar for more killing = less down time.


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Just to play devil's advocate; do we all believe the changes were intended to make domination primarily and endurance management power?

Looking at domination's effects being +mag/+duration on outgoing mez, +mez protection, and endurance refill I can't help but think that endurance refill is intended to be the tertiary effect in terms of purpose and usefulness. Basically, just to ensure that you have ample endurance to take advantage of the main purpose of domination - being more powerful.

From what I've read and experienced now, the end bar refill is the MAIN purpose of domination now. I'd honestly be surprised if it is he intended design for such a dynamic and powerful inherent to be nothing more than a supped up version of vigilance.

Don't get me wrong +mag and mez protection are still awesome, but I find myself primarily using domination as an endurance tool. I would imagine it was originally designed (and still carries this intention) that it is supposed to be a "power up" for tougher encounters, when you need more kapow!

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Well, during lowbie levels, we don't face that many bosses and even the lowbie bosses aren't that tough. I still use domination all the time because of the nonstop action, which means I am still getting the mez protection and better controls.

I am one of those that uses Domination as soon as it's up unless I am like right before the main boss fight and I may save it for one minute longer.

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I've got Petrifying Gaze on my Thugs/Dark right now and so far have been really unimpressed with it. I'm considering dropping it from my build but wanted to get the opinion of the community. Does it get better with heavy slotting? Because so far it just doesn't seem that great.

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If you are not taking any attack power, then a well slotted Single Hold is very handy. Mag 3 is good enough to hold most minions/lieuts in this game.

If you plan on taking Patron hold, you can stack to hold a boss.

Is it considered a bad "hold" power but mag 3 is still good.

Thanks for the replies.

I think I am only going to take Total Focus. Bone Smasher is nice but I've decided to fully slot both Power Push and Power Blast, which means I barely have time to cycle Bone Smasher especially after I got Power Burst.

I did notice that being Mind/Energy is a little bit problematic as I don't have -kb. I need to watch out when my Power Push pushes way too far. lol

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Then again, I've made it clear that dev's shouldn't be posting, they should have community reps that specialize in doing that. There is a reason our CFO doesn't address the public. Speaking to the public is as much a skill as programming code or ensuring the financial viability of a company.

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Noted. As much as I can see where you are coming from, I've worked at companies where the only customer interaction is through mouthpieces and, frankly, the experience is painful and frustrating both from the consumer side and from the developer side. I vastly prefer having the freedom to address folks as myself (keeping in mind that I am a representative of the company and that certain things must, perforce, not be commented upon or certain activities undertaken.) Yes, that leads to headaches sometimes, but it also leads to our fans being able to "see behind the curtain" a lot more than other games allow -- with all that that entails, good and bad.

FWIW, I took courses in business communication and PR while in college. I *could* filter everything I say with marketing doublespeak and spin. I choose not to. Sometimes, that causes me a lot of grief from the fans, other times, I get called to the carpet by my boss. I can live with that, though, since I believe that what I am doing is overall beneficial to everyone concerned.

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Oh I LOVE IT when dev posts!! It makes me feel like I am somehow involved in the process.

I took a break from this game for about 5 months. I bought WAR Hammer and played for about 4 months and then played WoW for just a month.. why? I feel those games are too big to feel that I even matter. It feels good when a dev responds to my question(s)!


I now hate games that don't have side-kick system. It is so hard to team with friends. I made ZERO good friends during that 5-months.


It's good to be back!

So yeah, Castle, keep posting! I track dev posts every morning just to read some juicy details.

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C'mon Frost, you trying to hard to find something hidden in Castle's words or agenda. Let it go.

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Actually, I'd really appreciate a post on the subject myself. It's hard not to worry that the message never even got through, in all the complaints and incorrect assumptions about the End costs and power adjustments.

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After spending weeks reading various threads (and noting who is posting what and how often in them) I have yet to really see any sort of consensus of there being a problem (except PVP damage, which has already been mentioned in another post.) Hot spots that I am paying close attention to are End Costs, Flares and low level play issues.

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Not sure about others but lowbie doms are GREAT! I basically just save my domination for full endurance bar for more killing = less down time.

Well, for me at least.. my twin bro and my other friend all started dominators with me two days ago and we are rolling! I've noticed we all rest fewer times because we no longer need to activate domination for +dmg.

I don't feel like creating a new thread but would I gimp myself much by skipping both Bone Smasher and Total Focus? Hear me out.

I am trying Mind Control for the first time. Mind has a lot of useful powers and it is all ranged.

I looked at the numbers and /Energy's ranged dps is quite impressive. I mean Power Bolt, Push, Blast and Burst is a very solid attack chain. I don't know if I have much time using melee attacks to be honest. Mind control doesn't have -kb so my target after Power Push is always so far away unless I push him to a corner/wall.


Have any of you tried /Energy without melee? Or maybe just skipping Total Focus? I am not a huge fan of 3s attack. I feel 70% of the time it's either overkill or wasted. Another thing is other ATs use Total Focus for mag 4 stun as well but I already have hold. What do you think?

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Well, I am pretty new to the mind set, so there was some stuff I wasn't sure about.

For example - Mass Hypnosis. At first glance, this seems like a lackluster power. Sleep a whole mob? Then the corr fireballs and I wasted time/end for no gain. Unless I'm missing something.

TK- I was planning on grabbing this to try it out, possibly going to respec if I don't like it. But, I hadn't checked the end cost. Now, especially with the increased end problems for doms, I can't see a situation that this power would help me, outside of pvp.

Mass Dom - Not a fan of AoE holds for Doms, but the plan was an OH **** power when combined with Dom and PBU.


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Actually, AoE hold is a lot better on Dominator than on Fortunata/Controller because we have Domination to aoe hold almost everything in the group (minus some bosses/AV/EBs).

AoE Sleep is useless most of the time until you start doing LRSF (aoe sleep heroes) or if your team knows how not "wake" them up. It's a better "oh !@#$#!" power than Dimension Shift IMO.

I just made my first Mind Dom and I like it so far. The first single sleep is very useful. I sleep one, hold another and kill the 3rd. Sleep duration is super long.

I took TK only because it's unique in Mind Control set. I probably won't use much and that's why I only put two slots in it.

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I was inspired by the new dom changes to, of course, make a new dom. But, I wanted a dom that was truly unique (not /psi) that is fun to play, yet doesn't sacrifice actual playability.

I arbitrarily chose Ice/Thorn, which seems like a nice combo with many slows for PvE and PvP. Unfortunately, I don't have sufficent experience of doms outside of the earth one I play.

Is this a sane combo? Any suggestions? If not this, what other unique combos work well together?

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I have yet to see any high lvl Ice/Thorn. I would say this is probably the rarest combo along with Gravity/Thorn.

I have a lvl 50 Fire/Thorn thinking that Aim can help Flashfire's accuracy problem and it indeed helps.

I don't see too many synergies between Ice/Thorn but hey, you want a "unique" combo so go for it!