Well here I go with my first guide, I hope it helps those who want to tame the beast that is a plant/fire Dominator. We'll be talking about the sets, the individual powers, patron powers, APP powers, and pool powers you can use, and maybe a little slotting advice to top things off. My thanks to Zombie man for the help getting a guide started, and Saint Nicster for the new city of data link so i could tell you readers about cast times and ranges and the like. Any and all critiques/comments are greatly appreciated. I do PVE 100% of the time so I have no idea how plant/fire works out in PVP.
So let's start with a look at the Primary powers:
Entangle (lv1)
cast time: 1.2 sec
Rch time: 4 sec
Range: 80ft
Pretty much any dom you take will give you a choice between a single-target immobilize, and a single-target hold. Most take the hold since enemies can still hit you when immob'd. Not to mention that you get a targetted AoE immob next level anyway.
Strangler (lv1)
Cast time: 2.7 sec
Rch time: 8 sec
Range: 80ft
Now this one will serve you better as you take down the snakes in the first few levels. It holds the foe, they can't move, they just stand there and struggle for a few seconds while you burn them alive. Later on when you get vines, this hold will stack with it to help you hold the boss that's in the crowd that you cast this on. Also, it does some DoT while the
foe is held. I'd reccommend 2 dam, 2 acc, and 2 hold for slotting. For some nice set bonuses in later levels, I'd reccommend either Basiisk's Gaze for the nice recharge bonus, or Lockdown, but if you're going for straight damage, go for Devastation or Thunderstrike.
Roots: (lv2)
Cast time: 1.67 sec
Rch time: 8 sec
Range: 80 ft.
Radius: 30 ft.
This power is better than Entangle, as previously mentioned, immobilizes more foes, does some DoT, but is rather dangerous to use when solo. It will make the enemies unable to run up to you, but if they have ranged attacks, then your squishy little dom butt is toast. Now on a team, it's more successful because the Brute will taking the aggro for their fury bar,
allowing you to spam your roots until the foes drop. For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 acc, 2 dam, and 2 immob. For recipe sets, I'd reccommend either Trap of the Hunter for the accuracy boost, or Enfeebled Operation for the recharge bonus. But if you're going for as much damage
as possible, try to stick a set of Positron's Blast in there instead.
Spore Burst: (lv6)
Cast time: 1.37 sec
Rch time:45 sec
Range: 70 ft
Radius: 25 ft
The only sleep power in the set, most Dominator powersets do have at least one. They are useful, situationally. I didn't take this move because I found it a waste when I'm just going to wake the mobs up anyway with roots right after I hit them with Spore. You might have a different idea in mind, strategically, but I built mine for straight-up damage.
If you do take it, it will help you pseudo-stealth through theft missions, and is invaluable when on an RSF (Recluse's Strike Force) for putting the Freedom Phalanx to sleep so your crew can take them out one at a time. Other than that, I find it skippable. for slotting, I'd reccomend 2 accuracy, and 2 sleep. For recipe sets, I'd reccommend Call of the Sandman,
it seems to have the most beneficial bonuses.
Seeds of Confusion (lv8)
Cast time: 1.07 sec
Rch time: 60 sec
Range: 50 ft.
Radius: 50 ft. (60-degree arc)
I could rave about how much I love this power all day, but I'll try to keep it brief. It's going to be a life saver for you, a good opener on a mob when soloing, and it's sweet to see a crowd take their own alpha. Later on, it will most likely become your first move in your attack chain. Soon after I took this power, I ran some paper missions and came across those
Legacy enemies, and learned that you can hit mob pets with this too. Kaolin of earth just summoned an animate stone on you? POOF! now he beats on his master until he defeats him, and then drops himself because he beat his own summoner. In the higher levels I love fighting
longbow. Yes I'm serious, I know how much they're hated, but man it's funny hitting the summoned Singularity from the LB Warden and seeing them all fly back when it turns on them. I've seen it work for any summoned pet except auto-turrets from Malta. Ok that's enough talking it up, try it out yourself, it's a set-defining power. For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 acc, 2 confusion, and 1 range. For recipe sets, I'd reccommend Malaise's Illusions, it has a good damage bonus, a good recharge bonus, and even a decent recovery and confusion duration bonus.
Spirit Tree (lv12)
Cast time: 3.2 sec
Rch time: 200 sec
Range: 20ft
Spirit Tree is a PBAoE heal rooted to the spot that it is summoned. It will tick some HP back to all team members, including you, that stand around it. I dropped this power later because once your dom is helping keep a team steamrollin' through mission after mission, you won't be spending enough time on one group of foes to make it worth it.That and....well....you're no healer. You're a DOM!!! You destroy!!! For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 heals, and 2 recharge. For recipe sets, I'd reccommend Numina's Convalescence.
Vines (lv18)
Cast time: 3.1 sec
Rch time: 240 sec
Range: 80 ft.
Radius: 20 ft.
Another set-defining power right here. Does no damage, but puts an AoE hold on a group of foes in it's radius, allowing you to hit them with all your fire powers and other plant powers. It definitely HAS to be slotted with accuracy for it to even hold a bunch at a time, otherwise you'll see 8 or 9 "miss" fly up in the air as your enemies laugh and beat the tar
out of you. For slotting I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 1 Hold, 1 recharge, 1 chance for psionic damage from ghost widow's Embrace and 1 chance for psionic damage from Neuronic Shutdown. Well, that's what I went with anyway, on Strangler too actually. Like I said, I built mine for damage damage damage.
Carrion Creepers (lv26)
Cast time: 1.17 sec
Rch time: 360 sec
Range: 80 ft.
Carrion-Freakin'-Creepers!!!! Another set-defining power. This is a location AoE that, when summoned, sprouts up what looks like your roots power from the ground, immobilizing everyone on the patch, as well as a bunch of big wiggly thorny vines that whip everyone in it's range. It takes alpha, it holds your aggro for you, and it fits really well as the power to
fire off right after seeds of confusion. Not only that, but it will follow you aound for 2min doing that same thing on each group you run into. When it's sitting there it makes a sickening CRACK sound each time it immobilizes foes. this power must be taken for your AoE awesomeness and survival purposes. this is the, if not one of, the powers that will help your team steamroll through missions. <3
For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 2 DAM, 2 recharge. you won't need to slot it for immob because you have roots already. For recipe sets, I would reccommend Positron's Blast as it's done the most damage for me to date, it gives nice accuracy and recharge and the chance for energy damage in it is nice too.
Fly Trap (lv32)
Cast time: 1.17 sec
Rch time:240 sec
Range: 50 ft
You can't name the dom pets like you can the Mastermind pets, but I call mine Bulbasaur all the time. It's my daughter's fave pokemon, she named it for me lol. Anyway, this little guy is a good fella to have around. He does toxic/lethal damage, and toxic damage is not that resisted against. He's like a mini plant/thorn dom, and does the entangle move, fling thorns, thorny darts, and he bites too! (nomnomnom) Take him because he
is also vital to your survival by distracting enemies, and provides more damage while the seeds make the enemies attack each other and the creeper vines do their work, all the while you're spamming roots and fire moves. Burning jungle of death.For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 2 DAM, 1 immob. For recipe sets I'd totally go with Expediant reinforcements for the recharge bonus
Starting to feel like a powerhouse of leafy destruction? Now let's go onto the fire moves.
Flares (lv1)
Cast time: 1 sec
Rch time: 3 sec
Range: 80 ft.
I'd drop it if I could, but we can't so we may as well make use of it.
Flares is the "pew pew pew" of the fiery assault set. It's minor damage, not much else to say about it, except that it does come in handy when there's 2 enemies left, one with a little HP and one with a lot. You don't want to use blaze on the nearly-lifeless one, so you can fire off flares to take out that one last drop of HP they had so they won't be annoying
when you're firing off everything else on the more healthy enemy. For slotting I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 2 DAM, and 1 chance for hold from the Devastation set. For recipe sets I'd reccommend Devastation or possibly Thunderstrike, for a good recharge bonus go with Decimation.
Incinerate (lv2)
Cast Time: 1.67 sec
Rch time: 10 sec
Range: 7ft.
A melee move! Cool! Will you use it much? Probably not! Does that make it useless? NO! Every toon needs at least 1 melee power, even if you're detroying things from afar. Doesn't matter if you're on a team or solo, someone, at some point, will get close enough to you that you'll have this in your backpocket to make them wish they didn't. It's got high damage
(DoT), and rocks when some poor shmuck gets close enough to be wrapped up in a strangler and set afire with incinerate.For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 2 DAM. For recipe sets I'd reccommend either the Touch of Death set, or the Mako's Bite set, but a good recharge bonus comes from the Crushing Impact set. More recharge = more hasten/domination.
Fire Breath (lv4)
Cast time: 2.67 sec
Rch time: 16 sec
Range: 40 ft.
Radius: 40ft. (30 degree arc)
Here's a set-defining power from the fiery powers. This will spit out a nice cone of fire, damaging and setting ablaze any enemies within it. It is best used at semi-close range, and works best on a crowd when the guy at the back of the crowd is the one targetted. that way the fire cone, which is rather narow, has to go through all the other guys to reach him,
ensuring maximum enemies having been damaged.For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 DAM, 2 ACC, and 1 Rech. For recipe sets, I'd definitely go for another Positron's blast set for the accuracy and recharge global bonuses
***Strategy Tip****
By the time I had seeds of confusion, I already had an awesome attack chain going on. seeds first, then when they start attacking each other, they'll usually fire their ranged attacks at each other first, then run in for melee moves while their ranged recharges. This is when I'd toss on roots to hold them back to front to back in a cluster while I'd fire breath them
all to ashes, and then flares/fire blast the rest remaining. that was my very first repeatable strategy for this Dom, it might work for you too. OK, back to the powers!
Fire Blast (lv10)
Cast time:1.2 sec
Rch time:8 sec
Range:80 ft.
The better flares! Just as fast-activating, but more damage, and more damage is good damage.This power will come in handy a lot when taking down a runner that all your other holds missed (yes it does happen), and it fits into yourattack chain really well with it's low recharge time. For slotting, I'd reccommend 2 ACC, 2 DAM, and 1 chance for hold from the
devastation set. For recipe sets, I'd reccommend the Devastation set or the thunderstrike set, for a good recharge bonus go with Decimation.
(Why the extra holds, dude? I'm already a dom!)
****Strategy Tip****
Well, be that as it may, if you're in a situation where the mag 2 hold isn't holding the boss, the chance for hold in your flares and fire blast will stack an extra mag onto your already existing holds. So just in case your strangler and your vines didn't cut it, and you panic, and you're furiously throwing all you got at it before it kills you, suddenly they're
wrapped in a ball of electricity, and then you can hold the boss much easier since you now have 2 or 3 holds stacking on the same boss. Not to mention that it will hold all kinds of enemies while you're pummelling fire and creepers on everyone. Back to the powers!
Embrace of Fire (formerly Fiery Embrace) (lv16)
Cast time:.73 sec
Rch time: 180 sec
Your build-up power that affects all your powers a little bit in the damage/accuracy dept. but really boosts your fire powers as well. I'd reccommend slotting 3 recharge in it for as much uptime as possible until you can get enough recharge set bonuses. It does not take Guissan's synchronized fire control: chance for buildup, unfortunately.
Combustion (lv20)
Cast time: 3 sec
Rch time: 17 sec
Radius: 15 ft. (sphere)
Not a bad power, it's a PBAoE atack that lights up all those around you. Now, in order for it to be really successful, you'll need to be in the middle of a crowd, but you're standing outside your makeshift forest of death that you made with the creepers, roots, seeds, and high-fiving Bulbasaur the whole time. You might be feeling frisky and want to run in, use
combustion, and bail out before anyone is the wiser in the heat of the moment (no pun intended). Myself, I like to stand back and throw fire into the mess from a safe distance. Yes, I did build my Dom for Damage mainly, but survivability moreso, and currently my usual difficulty setting is comfortable at +1/x4 with bosses. With my luck, I'm certain that the
one time I choose to get ballsy and run in for a combustion, I'd be done for. So I skipped it, your results may vary. Slotting-wise, I'd go with 2 ACC, 2 DAM, and 2 range. For recipe sets, I'd suggest the Obliteration set for the damage, accuracy, and recharge bonus, or scirroco's Dirvish for the regen bonus, depending on what you want your build to lean
towards.
Consume (lv28)
cast time: 2.03 sec
Rch time: 180 sec
Radius: 20 ft (sphere)
Ahh this is a nice utility power. Click, damage, gain end. Your Domination inherent will fill you up nicely, but while you're going off with the domination-empowered moves, you might run out of endurance here and there. That's where this power comes in handy. The only danger is that you need to be close to a foe (a couple of them, actually) for it to fill you
a good amount. If you decided to take combution, you can use it right after. I usually stand next to the crowd I'm killing, not in the middle, and still get a nice boost to the end. Slot it with 1 recharge, and if you want more bang for the buck, maybe an end mod. All versions of this power got a +recovery buff with i18, so you'll fill it up, and recover endurance more quickly for a little while.
Blazing Bolt (lv35)
Cast time: 4.67 sec
interrupt time: 3 sec
Rch time: 20 sec
Range: 150 ft.
The only reason I didn't take this power is that all the other moves are performed at a closer range. It would be handy for pulling, as snipes always are, but it just didn't fit into my build for AoE madness. Go for it if you want and can think of situations where you'll need it, cause it is powerful to use on a boss. My slotting suggestion would be 1
interrupt reduction, 1 ACC since it has good accuracy anyway, and 2 DAM for some OOMF. Recipe set suggestion would be sting of the Manticore, for the chance for toxic damage and damage/recharge/regen bonuses.
Blaze (lv38)
Cast time: 1 sec
Rch time: 12 sec
Range: 40 ft.
And here is the final set-defining power. This baby will be one powerful weapon in your arsenal. it's short range, but can be slotted with range so you can get it to fire off at about the same range as the other ST-fire attacks. Honestly though, when you're in the middle of wiping out whole crowds by yourself, you probably won't even notice the range
change that much, I don't. I'd reccommend slotting with 2 ACC, 2 DAM, 1 range, and 1 chance for hold from the devastation set. For recipe sets, I'd go with the Devastation set or the Thunderstrike set, but again, for a good recharge bonus go with Decimation.