Concern about merciless Dominus as Melee

I'm looking for tips, tricks and advice on facing merciless Dominus as melee. All the videos I find are from mid 80s level players in softcore. Not very helpful.

I'm level 70 in HC with fairly poor gear as im self found, and don't believe I can take a slam. I have whirling blades to escape but in my experience he occasionally does not give a queue to the attack. It only takes once. I'm also concerned about doing dps while avoiding his lightning. I don't want his Energy Shield regenerating so I considered Viper Strike but I have no experience with it.

My best idea seems to be switching to Spectral Throw. I'm not spec'd for it at all so will I have enough DPS to get the job done?

I'd love to hear suggestions on dealing with this boss.

If u use cyclone, AA is a huge help. It will make him slow, so u can easy escape his slam. To be even safer, u can just cyclone through and do kinda hit and run tactic. That's what i do for map dominus with hard mods. Quicksilver flasks would also help a lot with this tactic and u can refresh them with tps.

Reave is really good, if u manage to keep vaal reave up. Range is huge.

Cant help with other melee skills, didnt played them in a while.

And most important, dont get caught up in ice beams from totems.

Dominus' first form is really rough against melee, especially in HC where you cannot afford to die. Your best bet is probably puncture.
I am unsure what your current build is like, but if you went phys, puncture would be a solid choice against him for hit and run tactics.

Merciless Dominus is not very scary, anymore. His damage and life were reduced significantly with 2.0.0. Just make sure your Lightning res is capped and avoid the chilling bond totems he summons. Make sure you've got good recovery and keep Fortify up. Be ready with Leap Slam in case his lightning ghosts actually hurt you.

Endurance charges, granite, and with capped light res you will probably survive his slam. I am guessing you are about 4k life? A flame totem is a good distraction and stops his es regen. That part of the fight you can take very slow so no need to force it. Go back and fight him in a lower difficulty if you are unsure about the mechanics. Setup a tp after first form is down, I usually get into more trouble on second form when I am weak.

maybe just grind few levels in maps? the lowest tiers of maps are easier than domino and will bring you to 75+ in no time. at that level these 5 passives can make a difference and you also get a shot at some nice drops (who am i kidding but still)

I don't know what you are playing but Endurance Charges, Insta and Granite Flask always helps so much. Do not get slammed and pay attention to the sounds and animations. Then you know when you should move. You can test it in cruel, to remember the animations.
When you enter his area you open a tp on top of the wood planks, a big brown spot, its where you will fight afterwards, it is also your escape and refill point.
You can use a movementflask for avoiding the slam and a lightning flask for surviving his beams, it can help a lot to tank him to the second form. But better always avoid the slam, as i don't know your gear and build. :)
A good flaks setup would be instaflask/instaflaks remove bleeding/granite flask/ chaos res flask/lightning flask
OR if you deal massive dmg you can easy outregen him with hit and run in the first form.


To prevent his ES regen you have some ways:


I for myself just fight him, whenever i level or race.
In short: dont get slammed and tp is the key to success when underlevel/tooweak. He is not that strong as he was some patches ago.


If you need more help you can pm me.

Awesome thanks all! I didn't expect such great responses. You've given much to think about. It sounds like I may not need to switch to Spectral Throw after all. In response to those who asked, I am physical melee using Cleave although perhaps switching to Dual Strike would be best for this situation. I have a leveled Cyclone as well. I do use Arctic Armour though and can dash through him with Whirling Blades to chill. Resist are maxed and I have a granite flask. I have a leveled Decoy Totem so that could be useful. I thought of Flame Totem for the Energy Shield but at level 1 figured it would die in a second.

Without a ranged strategy, though, I'm most worried about him slamming without a queue. I've experienced it before.

i think its mostly been covered by previous posters.

i have completed merc dominus as melee on hardcore. i tried it as PURE melee and while possible it just takes an eternity. when your gear is half bad spending 45 minutes to kill phase 1 dom just sucks.

puncture, viper strike, lightning strike, totem, spectral throw. something to keep his ES from regenerating makes a HUGE difference. will cut the fight down from 45 minutes to 20 minutes.

the lightning streams are what eats so much life up and makes it take so long dodging in and out.

ive taken slam after slam after slam. never took more than 2/3 of my life ball on my lvl 70 tank.

i think he does about the same damage as cruel malachi which is around 3.3k



ive beat up on dom as melee and all that good stuff but in that time i never took a crit or i would have died. all it takes is that 1 unlucky run. thats why to stay alive in hc consistently against nasty bosses u dont ever really want to be hit.