Dominus Hardcore

So I'm going to attempt Dominus hardcore in Normal mode soon. Should be easy since I'm familiar with the fight and how to prepare. Still, just want to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. Since Dominus is an old hat routine now, most of the hardcore advice out there is dated. Anything to worry about in changes to Dominus since 2.0?

Currently a level 43 Templar SRS Totem and Necro build. Dual totems right now, along with zombies, spectre, skeletons, and vaal skeletons. Over 1k life, 270 ES, armor/es equipment, and MoM passive (30% damage goes to mana before life). I have two end-game characters right now, so been though the battles many times, but as standard league and challenge league only.

Will bring...
1.) Lots of remove bleed flasks for final phase of Dominus
2.) High lightning resist for first phase of Dominus
3.) Cold resist nice to have, second resist priority

Will do...
1.) keep unique mini-bosses in first phase of battle separate from each other
2.) avoid getting caught between totems in first phase of Dominus, and avoid touch of God.
3.) stay inside shield in last phase of Dominus
4.) portal open for when flask charges are gone

I do not want to do boss tagging, nor grouping for the battle. Prefer to tackle hardcore acts solo, and then I can group for end-game content. And I do not want to rely on a logout macro.

I think I'm over-preparing a bit, because I assume if you already know the mechanics, and over-leveled like I am, should be an easy fight, right?

never assume something is easy thats when you get overconfident and make mistakes
:)

The Dominus fight is easy if you know the mechanics. Especially as a level 43 dual-SRS-totem Necromancer. I pretty much always just fight Dominus in HC when I get up to him - no need to overlevel usually.
Just don't lag, don't try to tank anything, keep close to something you can run behind to avoid the spirit laser, and you'll be fine. Note you probably *can* tank even the slam if you wanted to, but don't try it!

The biggest issue for you will be the initial mini-boss fights. Always make sure you know where the are, and try to keep them between you and your totems. Especially the second wave, since they can pop up when you aren't expecting it. They die quickly and you should be fine, but it's really easy to take a huge wad of damage if you don't stay on your toes!

Also you should resummon your totems if the chilling bond totems spawn on them. They will die quickly, and also cast slower too.

Do you even need high resists for Dom normal? I don't think it becomes an issue until cruel. I never noticed actually taking any lightning damage from him in normal.

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kolyaboo wrote:

Do you even need high resists for Dom normal? I don't think it becomes an issue until cruel. I never noticed actually taking any lightning damage from him in normal.

It depends on your HP. If your HP/resists are high enough then the spirit beam won't shock you, so it won't seem very damaging. If it does enough damage to shock you, though, then it can be dangerous.

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SimianJyhad wrote:

never assume something is easy thats when you get overconfident and make mistakes
:)

Yeah, hence why I'm being cautious and planning. In any standard league I just do Dominus as fast as possible and normally don't have any issues (except for my melee character, where I has to be careful). But I've already gotten sloppy in hardcore once and RIPed my first character around the same level, but due to a stupid mis-step with multiple lab traps.

"

dudiobugtron wrote:

The Dominus fight is easy if you know the mechanics. Especially as a level 43 dual-SRS-totem Necromancer. I pretty much always just fight Dominus in HC when I get up to him - no need to overlevel usually.
Just don't lag, don't try to tank anything, keep close to something you can run behind to avoid the spirit laser, and you'll be fine. Note you probably *can* tank even the slam if you wanted to, but don't try it!

The biggest issue for you will be the initial mini-boss fights. Always make sure you know where the are, and try to keep them between you and your totems. Especially the second wave, since they can pop up when you aren't expecting it. They die quickly and you should be fine, but it's really easy to take a huge wad of damage if you don't stay on your toes!

Also you should resummon your totems if the chilling bond totems spawn on them. They will die quickly, and also cast slower too.

Thanks! :-)

Wow, that was easier than I thought. With so many minions it almost feels like cheating. I leveled to 44 just to add a jewel socket for more resistance before taking on Dominus. But I doubt I needed to get to even 40-something. Fight was so quick. Aggroed one-by-one (and sometimes two) of the mini bosses over first, then first form of Dominus went down so fast he only used his lightning stream twice. The final form was fast too, with rain of blood only occurring twice. Had 450 ES and never hit life even once during battle. And never needed to pop vaal skeletons either.

Thanks again for the advice.