Fl4k’s pets just got some nice buffs (arguably it should be more, but I’ll leave that for another time) yet the capstone of his dedicated pet tree remains one of the worst skills in the game. I believe capstones should be the crown on top of a build, adding to all you’ve built up and letting you play the character in new, powerful and creative ways. Dominance is far from that and needs a rethink.
If you could change Dominance any way you wanted, what would you do with it?
I don’t remember where I heard it but one video suggested being able to summon multiple pets during Gamma Burst. That would be pretty cool.
I think I would make attack commands far more responsive, so that you press the button for less time and then the pet immediately drops what they are doing to respond. Then I would double the base damage of commands and make it so that a pet kill through a command immediately resets the timer and gives a stacking power boost to the next command, enabling you to set up strings of kills in coordination with your pet.
I’d put it back the way it was before the patch. Specifically, once the enemy is turned, my pet should lose aggro on it, and my fire should turn friendly. This not only keeps my pet focused on actual enemies (because as a practitioner of Dominanace, I hit them at the right spot, and they’re already guaranteed to die, so why have my pet waste its time on them), but also lets it stay alive throughout its Dominance so I get the most benefit out of it (instead of having it die prematurely from friendly fire).
For a kill that is guaranteed to drop a quarter of an enemy’s health with nothing but a single melee hit, I love it. (Pairs well with a DE4DEYE COM, since I get the full damage bonus right up to the kill shot).
I don’t even know at this point. It could be anything from a taunt to a pet damage buff to some sort of life link or any number of things. I just hope they do something to change it.
If the leaks are true about the 4th skill tree. I believe Fl4k is in due for a action skill that summons all your pets. Ima repeat what I said in another thread make red F4ang effect the capstone and throw dominance onto a mod for that 1 guy who actually likes using it.
Dominance- When FL4K kills an enemy, their pet gains +15% damage. When FL4K’s pet kills an enemy, FL4K gains +1% per second health regeneration. This effect can stack 10 times. Stacks are quickly lost when downed.
That could be pretty cool. Would the stacks just stick around for an entire playthrough if you never go down? For my build, I’d be more interested in the pet damage; my Fl4k is a Deathless Fl4k so health regen would make no difference at all. Maybe a damage perk for Fl4k instead?
I thought about saying Dominance stacks would last for 60 seconds or something like that. I feel like one should boost the other in a different way to promote cooperation. One be the killer and the other be the healer etc. But who am I kidding, I would love some more damage buffs lol
“Enemies who are hit by Fl4k’s melee damage will no longer attack them and take 20% (? - number could easily be adjusted for balance) increased damage from all sources. This bonus is doubled for Fl4k’s pets.”
Slightly redundant with Red Fang, but much better than what it is now.
I would implement that along with this change to Tr4iner:
“When Fl4k uses Gamma Burst, he temporarily gains all 3 pets for 15 seconds. This effect is extended by 3 seconds on every kill by Fl4k and 6 seconds on every kill by a pet.”
**Would implement this so that Fl4k keeps the pet equipped and gains the base effect of the other two; e.g. equipping the Great Horned Skag would keep GHS but summon Jabber Sidekick and Spiderant Centurion on GB use.
Someone had the idea that the capstone tier of each skill tree should include a final, ultimate badass pet.
2 Likes
jmthsauer
("Barriers are for the weak. Or the tryhards"-Zane)
#12
I’d replace it completely with a skill that allows Fl4k to have 2 pets out at once (however, attack commands would still only affect one of them). I mean, it is after all the capstone of his pet based skill tree, so it not actually affecting his pets just feels like a waste.
Dom should not be trash. Some proper dev work would’ve ensured it was not the trash skill
It is today.
An obvious function of the talent should be a ranged permanent charm of an enemy that turns it into an ally that gains a damage buff while charmed and loses 10% hp each second until it is dead, meaning the charmed enemy has 10 seconds before dying. If the charmed target is a beast the HP loss is 5% per second so the duration will last 20 seconds.
Oh wow. Did I just do the job of the lazy and inept GBX dev team? Wow. I guess it shows how easy it really is to conceptualize talents didn’t I?
I quite like dominance, but totally agree that it’s far too weak.
I’d make dominated enemies count as pets, giving them all the bonuses you give from you skills (plus scaling up their damage to other enemies in mayhem mode, so they aren’t weak). I’d also add that having a dominated enemy grant a pet bonus (like having a skag or a jabber or a spiderant does) of +5% action skill and pet damage.
Importantly, making dominated enemies pets would mean that sharing damage to pets (using shared spirit and hive mind) would cause damage to dominated enemies. As long as this damage also scaled in mayhem, and dealt only to the dominated enemy and nothing to the normal pets, until the dominated enemy died or the skill ended, it would increase Fl4k survivability and add a source of damage towards dominated enemies.
Biggest problem is that B3 messed up damage scaling, especially on mayhem. Mechanics like reflecting enemy bullets and turning enemies against each other (Amara’s glamour, Fl4k’s dominance, traitorweed, etc) should be useful ways to reduce damage taken and deal extra damage back to enemies, and maybe distract them. But the reality is that they are far too weak, so often not worth using.
Gearbox really need to scale the damage better, and make it work, if they want to include mechanics like these.
Dominance- When FL4K’s pet deals damage, they have a chance to Dominate that enemy. Dominated enemies take 10% more damage from FL4K and their pet, this effect is tripled for FL4K’s pet. This effect can stack 5 times.
I want to be able to perma-charm an enemy mob to fight for me. This could replace my existing pet (because I hate thems) and be scaled appropriately. The only real difference is the charmed enemy would look different and have different attacks/defenses, and be limited to non-specials (Badasses, bosses, named, minis, etc.).
Perhaps there could be some sort of level limit based on the number of points in the tree. This could open the door for Badbass pets if a enough points are put into the tree. Or a new COM could add Badasses to the list of the capstone.
Whether the pet can be revived, runs away if you die, or can be fast-traveled with is up for debate. But having only one pet at a time, scaled damage (included down-scaled), and having to go “get” your pet, seem like good trade offs for another pet option.
@boombumr (or someone else that experiments with pets more than I do) - Has anyone messed around with the Trainer at all since pets were buffed? I had one drop the other day and didn’t pick it up, but I was wondering whether the new pet/melee scaling for Mayhem levels changed anything about the Trainer COM, as my Scorcher is killing quite a few mob enemies (and even some badasses).
Since the special effect of the Trainer is basically Dominance (AFAIK, anyway), just wanted to see if anyone had tried the Trainer since the patch. These days, I am assuming that any COM that boosts Grim Harvest, Pack Tactics, and Ferocity is pretty strong for a pet build. I just can’t see the special effect justifying the use of the COM, but eh, I guess that’s why I’m asking.