Ive notice that there has been an abundance of guides and reviews for all other classes out there. I haven't see an extensive discussion for an OL/Dominator though. I know that this class is said to be for the"choosen ones". I believe it would greatly benefit dreamers if they are to find a good thread where:
Overlord/Dominator
a)skill build/what skills to invest in and save SP for.
b)equiptment B -S80 (tattoo included)
c)leveling tips
d)seal or Paagrio buffs?
Cheers
ps. I got an OL and though he's a torture to level its worth it to the last second i play him.
'Choosen ones'? Nah. 'Mentaly insane' is the right term. I know - I've been one for 3 years. Now I'm cured but I can recall a lil bit about that class:
a) get all skills till 75 - the amount of SP you would save is nothing compared to the cost of 76+ skills. 76 - wisdom, 77 - Skill mastery (maybe!) and spellforce (also maybe), 78 - all, 79 - all (get blockade first tho), 80 - flames , 81 - all (no SP cost just plain 'ol cash or luck)
b) Solo oop bufs - hv + dagger/duals. Buffer robe+dagger/duals. later on when you'll be usefull in aoe go robe and as +++ mage weapon as you can. Tatoo?When you're still swinging weapon at mobs +str/dex. Once you're done with that nonsense +con/+wit.
c) Pre 7x - Solo with oop buffs/leech in clan parties. After that aoe groups/mage parties. OFC you can always be someones oop buffs :P
d)both.
PS. Not woth it mate. OL/Domi is a very situational toon and you won't get many chances to shine. Castle defence is where a couple of domis supported by few dd parties can easly win over stronger enemies.
I mostly solo with an SE or PP. OL set up has been light/heavy armor in lower levels with a one handed blunt, preferably with haste or health. At S grade, I pve with DC light and a basalt battlehammer/health with fire attribute stones. I pretty much leave soul cry on continuously and hunt where mana pots drop or have my SE recharge/heal me. In this set up, I'm a decent DD and reasonable tank. My SE is always in party with me and POW makes pve a breeze above 78. Tats - Str+4 for now.
I solo because I can only play a couple of hours a night and don't have time to waste looking for a group. I keep my vitality at lvl 2 at the lowest. At 77, I was making about 2.5% in 3-4 buff rounds a night and 78 just above 1%. Not bad for a casual player and the OL levels pretty much as fast as my nuker or archer since I keep my vitality at 2 and have limited play time each night.
I like the blunt for overhits. My buffer is in party with me always. Overhits kinda hurt your SP as you level though, so I have skipped a lot of the skills and am saving up for the 79 and 80 skills (like 80 and 150 million SP per). The seals have not been useful to me (with my playstyle) in pve or pvp.
For siege pvp, I like Maj Robes for the mana/cast speed and arc. mace for the acumen/matk. But seriously, you don't really have huge benefit in a fight until level 79 (VoP/blockade) and 80 (Invincibility). With CP pots, CP heals are kind of a waste of mana these days although back in the old days before CP pots even a mid 60's OL could turn the tide of battle in a big way with CP heals/ally buffs. Still, it is the most fun character that I play. I suspect the next chronicle OL's become much more useful as ally buffers again with the combo buffs.
For casual players, pve as a melee/tank and pvp as a mage. I disagree with most players who say this is a hard class to level - especially with vitality and mana pots these days.
Keep in mind I'm only lvl 70 so I can't speak of higher lvls. It's easy to lvl an OL when you have dependable support, boxed or not, I don't have it. Solo with boxed support is not solo, but that's irrelevant to my posting. I'm not into pvp so take that into consideration, and don't be afraid to hunt green mobs. I've even hunted light blue because of vitality the way it is, I made a-grade before vitality though (to which I'm particularly proud of :D ).
I've been fortunate enough to have a clan hall for buffs as of late, but I can manage w/o those buffs, which is important for learning your toons capabilities (ie where do I need empower, where will skills land w/o it, what color mobs can I face with my own buffs) . I've soloed effectively, albeit slow, with my own buffs in herb areas and non-herb areas. For the most part I've grouped, but I've soloed a lot as well (with NO boxed support). But I've also duoed with SEs or PPs, and have had clan parties, I also party non-clannies (duos and groups).
Keeping mobs off the main DD (who can be yourself when soloing) is just as important as anything else, even in parties, and if you can do so effectively then you won't have to worry about healing so much, which saves mana (mainly the primary healer). If you get into trouble then drop seals and drain... I've healed 4k hp on a crit. If you learn how to control mobs properly, then as long as you have mana you generally won't die, but sometimes things just go bad (ie ninja mobs). I've learned that Dreaming Spirit is the easiest debuff to land, often works with fighter weapons.
I've generally always been under geared, at least until recently. But I learned my capabilities with said gear (see above). Most of c-grade I had d-grade gear, shortly after I got c-grade gear a friend loaned me a bw robe set, which I think I used until I got my NM set. I recently traded my NM for DC and I got a common FDS. I've always used mage weapons until about a week or so ago when a friend quit and gave me his DLE +3 w/health (among other things). That's my primary weapon now, but when in emergencies I switch to the FDS for greater m.atk.
Even though robes have their weakness (p.def), Soul Guard will give the p.def of a tank, but for emergencies only because it drains the hell out of your mana. I've always preferred robes, even when soloing. Light and Heavy just slow casting down too much which can mean the difference of life and death. You have Steal Essence so use it liberally, but wisely. In b-grade you can get bw light which has a c.spd boost, consider using it.
Timing is everything, learn when to use your debuffs and more importantly learn when NOT to, a poorly timed debuff can aggro 10 mobs to you and then you're pretty much f-d, sometimes it's better to take a little bit of damage than to debuff a threat. For example, people have asked my why I'm not sleeping a mob, I tell them it's because if I do I will aggro the 3 mobs grouped with it.
Based from my experience (more correctly, if I had the money this is how I would have done it):
NG: melee all of it (I chose Talking Island). Of course this is practically all skipable now.
DG: same thing here with newb buffs the way they are now, use Mithril Robes and a BB (maybe SoL for emergencies). Nos til 32, unless getting stunned becomes a problem. Try to raid, or heretic/pilgrims til 40. If catas become a problem, and they can depending on gear/finances, there are a number of good spots between 32 and 40, find one that you enjoy. I can't remember what I did off the top of my head for this lvl zone.
CG: Karm set, CoN w/Acumen, Yaksa (Haste if you can, I've never had one), DG jewels are enough but if I had the money I'd get top-c, no need for tats yet but +4 wit/ -5men will help if you're using the Yaksa mostly. I hate c-grade outside of catas, so I stuck with branded groups, crowd control nearly all the way. If that's not an option, try anywhere that has blunt-weak mobs, like ITC. I believe golems are always blunt-weak. I think most undead are blunt-weak. Hunter's Valley (not EV) is pretty easy.
BG: Avadon set, Spell Breaker, AOBA (Haste if available, never had one), BO Jewels, consider getting the tats if you haven't already (see above). Again, blunt resistant mobs, Pavel Ruins is awesome for solo (only the 1x mobs). Frozen Lab is also nice, go for the bandersnatches (root, burn, kill), pretty easy, and the 4-eyed things, maybe the gargoyles, stay away from the aggro group mobs, prognhorns, and I think buffalo.
AG up to 70: I currently have a DC set with FDS no acumen (FDS is common but it works). I miss the mp regen of my NM, I'm considering getting a BW set for regen. I considered getting a Magic Power SA but when I realized how much MORE expensive my skills would become I decided against it. If I had the money I'd get both just to see, but I advise against that and just use the Acumen.
NM robes and FDS w/Acumen or DC robes and FDS w/Acumen, depends if you prefer m.atk or c.spd, the difference is negligible in pve numbers-wise, one is faster the other has a higher chance to land. If you can, get an Elysian (haste if possible, never had one). Majestic Jewels, I recently learned unsealed commons provide a mp bonus. Get the tats now if you haven't already, +4 WIT/ -5 Men works, +4/-4 is better, I still haven't decided on physical stats, so I've left them alone.
As for hunting spots, I really enjoyed vos, and I'm in fod now since 68 I think. In vos the mob magic can be brutal but OL have skills to take care of it (silence, sleep, steal essence).
LEARN your skills as they CAN save your life. If you run through vos not knowing how to use your skills you WILL die. I don't have the best information but I certainly know how to play my toon. I've been complimented by random people as well as people I know because of the situations I've survived. I've lived when the party died because of my skill set and I know how and when to use them.
There are certain OL skills you don't need to bother with especially in pve, and according to many, even in pvp. But I don't know about pvp so I won't advise to that. In my experience certain skills are useless, Seal of Mirage, Seal of Suspension, Seal of Scourge, Seal of Gloom, Aura Sink, and Madness. Seal of Mirage is fun in the rare instance it lands, more for people's reaction to it rather than the usefulness of it (which it doesn't really have because it doesn't really land).
That's all I got for the moment, I hope it helps.
(omg, I didn't realize I wrote this much until I clicked preview post)
Always Acumen SA. Empower and Magic Power do not scale appropriately. The higher you get, the higher the detriment on Magic Power gets (cause skill MP cost goes up), but the benefits stay the same. 100'ish M.Atk is pretty terrible. Casting Speed > the M.Atk SAs.
I would actually advise against NM Robes if you don't PvP. The casting speed is actually quite slow for PvP too, but they are the only A Robes that you can put PvP aug on (maybe Majestic, if so, go for that instead - obviously).
Majestic robes are good, if for nothing else the stun resistance.
having Acumen is very important, the difference in casting speed is noticeable.
Nightmare light is also a viable option in between buffing sessions, the Vampiric rage effect could be very beneficial.
My OverLord has heavy armor as a backup, for those moments when you know you're in trouble, Common Nightmare does just fine, combined with soul guard.
A lot of people swear by daggers as solo weapons, i find the accuracy a bit deterring. i prefer blunt weapons, or dual weapons, swords are good, and fists have very good accuracy.
If you happen to get hot springs Cholera level 3-5 accuracy goes up pretty significantly. level 3, dagger with guidance buff has over 100 accuracy.
My question, is if you did have empower on your mage class weapon, would it significantly increase your chance for d-buffs landing?
Acumen is nice, but that factor could be a huge decision maker.
When it comes to S grade, i will have to keep dreaming, as i can't even afford a real set of nightmare.
I tried the dagger route in my A grade. I then swiched to +7 A duals, the cheap ones w/ +haste on them and my dps went way way up. I like them much better as my solo weapons of choice.
I use DC robes full time. I have a set of tall heavies, but any more, I have not been using them.
My main is an acumen blunt. that is what I use in party and raids and such.
All skills learned so far. I am really looking forward to c3.5 updates. That should be one killer update for the OL class.
You do need a buffer of some sort to party with and I have found that finding a good dd like a tryant is perhaps the best way to go. But I can solo HS currently just fine, I return to CH buff up and then another 20 minutes out there. I just augment those buffs with my better OL ones.
Lets see, My way is the wrong way, so do whatever :P
Now a days:
1-20 Newbie buffs and heavy armor and weapon. Do quests, and you are done really quick
20-40 Newbie buffs, heavy armor, either a blunt or a polearm. I have a +++ glaive that I use now a days to level academy toons, so I just go in necro by gludin and do 20 to 32ish in no time, round up a room, kill it, run to next room repeat. There are three sections of good mobs that you can do this with, so you slowly move up as you go. And since you have done the quests you have 200 lesser healing pots, so just spam away happily to stay alive. At this point I put all the seal stones collected into Greater healing pots for later spamming. Get all common D items from back area of necro crushed to supply you with shot. :) 32ish on *shrug* doesn't take long, find a friend and duo those Kama's 1 a night gets you 1 level a night, you hit 38 run the paliaka, and bingo you are done!
40 to 52 This is a fuzzy time, don't remember much of it. But I had a good set of friends to level with. I switched between a blunt with health in heavy armor, to a acumen weapon and robes. But 90% of the time I was wearing heavy and just smashing stuff like a good orc.
B grade I wore an avadon robe set and used a weapon with acumen a lot of the time, because I was mainly in parties with clannies so it wasn't too bad for me.
A Grade I moved to DC Robes Completely, and I also used an Elysian with Health, I would switch back to my B grade acumen weapon for pvp or sieges back then. I still have my Elysian and use it occasionally. But I have a Flaming Dragon Skull with acumen now, that I use more often. I have also managed to pick up a DC light set that was handy for any kind of solo grinding. I am level 79 now, and I am still using the DC Robe set on and off. When we are doing something with a lot of AOE, and I'm going to be doing some crowd control and debuffing, I use the robes and FDS.
S Grade I can't really say, I have what I have because it was given to me by people who are taking breaks from the game. But for general grinding I'm out as a DD in parties a lot of the time, So I'm wearing Drac armor and using an Angel Slayer with haste and 150 fire. The dagger does have times where it misses often, and that annoys me, but I'm hitting fast and fairly hard with Soul Cry going.
As to skills from 40 to 75 I would get most, I have used, or tried them all. Seal of winter and chaos can be handy while coming up the ladder. Now I use Seal of despair fairly often, especially followed by silence and root in aoe areas. I still use Seal of winter fairly often, depending on where I am. For example, out in Dino island Seal of despair for some reason misses a lot, but then I do seal of winter and they all slow down their hit rate :) But still its great when you are hunting trex's and you land seal of despair on it and it is all slow and stuff.
Seal of scourge I find kind of useless, because I can never get the **** thing to land, it is really only helpful on raid bosses. Seal of flame and poison aren't that useful, they do so little damage, to be a waste of time. I still throw seal of flame though at times just to start the mobs ticking down in a large group of mobs.
Fear and Dreaming spirits are great single target skills that land often and cast quickly. Dom has to be one the fastest, Full length, sleeper in the game now.
Madness and seal of mirage, aren't really useful for most situations, but they are fun for screwing with people, and anti-people. I have killed ppl sitting in a anti-ppl group in the hallway, by grabbing a bunch of mobs and then doing seal of mirage a couple of times to switch them all off me onto them :) Just fun to be an ***** at times to the anti-ppl.
All the buffs you get, no need for discussion there. Soul Cry and Soul Guard are essential also. I used to use soul guard more, but now it is fairly expensive, so I just turn it on when needed to save myself, it gives you a good boost to pdef.
Heart of paagrio, Ritual of Life, and Honor of Paagrio all have their spots depending on group make up and clan type. I am now in a PVE clan, so the CP stuff actually comes in more handy, since we don't go out looking for fights, we don't carry a ton of CP pots on us, so my cp heals are sometimes the only thing they have when we are attacked. Heart is always useful for a nice heal an hp regen when doing a raid.
I think that about covers 40 to 75. Onto 75+!!!
76 Skills I skipped, and still haven't bothered with them.
77 Got my two buffs, and Skill Mastery. I would have definitely not gotten skill mastery, it has proved to be utterly worthless so far.
78 So far I only got Seal of Despair. I like it, I use it often. I skipped the rest, because I wanted to save SP for 79
79 Victories of Paagrio, got as soon as I leveled. Has been a great help to the clan, especially during raids. In 30 million more SP I can think about the next skill, until then I don't know, and I'm trying to figure out if Seal of Blockade is still worth getting.
I pushed myself to level 77 before I took my sub. Now I'm just finally really enjoying playing dominator. A dom is a jack of all trades, master of none, pretty much. I love crazy AOE stuff, I love to throw down the seals, control the crowd and just make crazy stuff do-able. I miss being able to heal and buff the whole alliance though. Now a days with the S grade weapon and armor I have though, I can go as a fake DD burning soul cry non stop.
I think that covers about everything. So many times people ask about dominator and I just don't say anything, today I felt like writing, so here are my experiences to 79 :)
Popper's post is quite good. He hit the nail on the head with most things. Few items that weren't touched on.
A previous poster said seal of suspension was useless. In pve it is relatively useless, but in pvp it can singlehandedly turn the tide of a fight, especially in mass pvp situations (2-3 groups or more). It TRIPLES the skill reuse timer, no more battle heal spam for bishops. No more spamming one nuke on mages either. It also has the highest land rate of any seal we have on players, at +5 or higher it just works most of the time. It is one of three seals that aren't completely useless in mass buffed pvp in high end (despair, silence, suspension being those three, your paladins do the rooting, theirs actually works).
Blockade is broken. Badly. Good luck getting it to land, even at +1 it's just about left my hotbar entirely. Despair on the other hand at +1 actually works once in a while.
Weapons you really need to get a few arcana maces with elemental nuke augments and add 150 of that element to be a "battlemage" anymore, our drains aren't an option for dd once you approach /reach 80. Grinding I use a crit damage angel slayer with soul cry. Accuracy from hot springs makes it so you don't miss hardly at all on the deer at silenos (highest mob evasion I know of), anything else and it's still got the highest damage ratio we can get. Soul cry is static patk increase, even to punches, so the faster we can attack the stronger the advantage, and crit rate is second to none on daggers. I also have a Drac bow for the olympiad. I'd like to say I can use it in open pvp but I just get slugged or crusherd dead in 4 hits or so, no time if you are the target unless flames is up.
That's about it, wtb fire element for our drain :(
At lvl 66 on mine i use fists or a dagger and shield and tallum light and since all my gears common it isn't worth posting which weapons and i'm saving for s grade.
C grade i was theca set and a ds/focus dagger and shield and at b grade i was same dagger and avadon robes set or common fists that i found.