This combo has some interesting possibilities, I think. One of the nice things about plant is that it tends to clump up baddies at the same time as it neutralizes them, making fissure's small AoE and tremor's long animation less of drawbacks. On the other hand, plant is going to be -KB'ing the enemies, which will weaken some of earth's mitigation tricks a bit. On the third hand, PB + seeds will confuse things for an ungodly long time.
As for must haves, from plant I'd definitely grab strangler, roots, seeds, vines, carrion creepers, and fly trap. From earth I'd consider spears (forced), both mallets, seismic smash, power boost, and fissure to be the must-haves.
Roots is unusual among the AoE immobs in that it does twice as much damage as normal, for less endurance. It's quite worth slotting up as an attack, especially given how seeds will clump foes.
You probably know this already, but seeds is one of the most godly control powers in the game. It's got a big cone, huge duration, quick recharge, clumps stuff up for you, has no accuracy penalty, and you get it at level 8! As long as you don't let the enemies kill each other completely solo, you won't get any real XP loss (roots is good here). It should be the first power you 6 slot, and will be your staple the whole game long.
Vines is a bog standard AoE hold, and thus often overlooked. However, I feel it's an important part of your arsenal in this case. Seeds is a *very* good power, but you want a backup for when it's recharging, or you need to control a second group (or against confuse resistant foes - darn nemesis). With the aid of power boost and domination, it will last plenty long enough to fulfill that function, as long as you throw it a few slots.
Carrion creepers is a strange power, but a very good one. In short, it summons an invisible pseudo-pet that follows you around for a while and summons vines to attack your enemies. The vines and other effects can slow, damage, knock down, and immobilize your foes. It's generally best to slot for max recharge and then damage, accuracy, end reduction, and damage procs to taste. The vines can take aggro, so it's useful for keeping the heat off of you, but they can also do some noticeable damage.
Although I didn't call it a must-have, I would still consider picking up entangle. /earth is a bit short on ranged attacks, and the ability to immob an EB without the end-heavy AoE immob is nice to have. Slot it up with some damage, acc, and end, and it can help round out your ranged chain.
Spirit tree and spore burst aren't anything special. They do what they advertise, but aren't especially strong. I wouldn't use up power picks on them.
On the earth side, the mallets and seismic smash make for a massively smash-tastic melee punch - they are some truly beastly melee attacks, although slow to recharge. Stone spears has a cool animation and some nice mitigation with knockup, but it is a bit slow. Hurl boulder, even though it's your only other ranged attack, is slow enough that I wouldn't consider it a must have, although it definitely is usable.
Tremor is also saddled with a quite slow animation. However, since seeds will be leaving things rather harmless, it could still work well on the clumped up foes, I think. Just be cautious with using it against uncontrolled baddies. Fissure doesn't have the animation problem, but does have a rather small radius. Again, seeds will help here.
Power boost is your ace in the hole. Hit power boost and domination and confuse a spawn, and you could just walk away because they're never coming out. Or, PB + vines makes a very credible panic button backup control.
From earth assault, the only power I'd outright skip is mud pots. The radius is tiny, the damage is nothing to write home about, and the immob and slow are totally redundant on an AT with so much control.
For slotting, roots, entangle, seismic smash, the mallets, tremor, fissure, and spears all get standard attack slotting. You can probably skimp a bit on entangle and/or spears, as the melees are the real meat of the attack chain.
Strangler, seeds, creepers, and roots all need a lot of slots. For SOs, seeds and roots can both be slotted 2 acc, 2 mez, 2 rech. Strangler can get away with 1 less acc, and creepers should probably get 1 acc, 2 dam, 3 rech. Fly trap just needs an acc and 3 damage.
If you're concerned about overall amount of slots, consider frankenslotting stuff. I know the fashion is to go for recharge bonuses, but you can get a viable and slot efficient build for really cheap. Getting 7 SOs worth of enhancement for 5 slots in each attack, etc.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
I believe I've established by this point that I am both an altaholic, and a masochist.
Okay, so I've once again found an idea fit for a Dominator. Plant Control/Earth Assault, a match that manages to be thematic, and not have the constant redraw that so annoyed me with /Thorns. So hurray for that, my scientist possessed by an angry nature spirit character is a go.
But I've never really gotten into control sets. Highest I've gotten any control set based character has been a level 8 controller. So that's one strike against my Dominator. Earth Assault doesn't have any actual documentation. Strike 2. And the only thing I can find about the pair, is a general proposal.
So, the questions:
What are the must have powers?
Are there any powers I would be better off avoiding?
Finally, any advice regarding slotting? Especially in regards to how many slots to dedicate to some powers I get the feeling that slots are going to be at a premium
Thank you.
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-