Character Optimization - All Psi Dominator

Started by JanessaVR, September 23, 2014, 03:02:33 AM

JanessaVR

UPDATED (1st Update) on 07/02/2015


Design Notes:

1)  I went with all Psi for Primary, Secondary and Epic both as unified thematic choice and because Psionics are about the hardest powers to resist in-game.  Of all the archetypes, this is is the best build I could come up with that most represented the concept of "I am a master of the mental arts, and will bend you to my will - just by thinking about it!"  :)
2)  Hasten was avoided on purpose, despite its usefulness, as I get really tired of the bright glow and it doesn't fit my concept of the character.
3)  I'll be starting in Praetoria, and Psi/Psi/Psi Dominator is Mother Mayhem's build, so it certainly fits in there.  :)
4)  My primary teaming role is locking down enemies, but I want to be able to solo as well.  However, there is no Psi secondary for Controllers, and my Secondary power being offensive let's me shoot as well as lock down.

Please let me know what you think.


Screenshot of Mids Build:

https://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p720/janessavr/Dominator_MC_PA_zps6ofabvse.png


Export of Mids Build:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Dominator X: Level 50 Magic Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Levitate
  • (A) Devastation - Chance of Hold
Level 1: Psionic Dart
  • (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
  • (42) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
  • (43) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
  • (43) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  • (43) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (50) Devastation - Chance of Hold
Level 2: Dominate
  • (A) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold
  • (3) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge
  • (3) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
  • (5) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (5) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold
Level 4: Fly
  • (A) Endurance Reduction IO
Level 6: Confuse
  • (A) Coercive Persuasion - Confused
  • (7) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge
  • (7) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
  • (15) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance
  • (40) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion
Level 8: Stealth
  • (A) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance
  • (9) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  • (9) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (11) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure
Level 10: Mental Blast
  • (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
  • (11) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
  • (13) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
  • (13) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  • (15) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (39) Devastation - Chance of Hold
Level 12: Recall Friend
  • (A) Interrupt Reduction IO
Level 14: Teleport
  • (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
Level 16: Psychic Scream
  • (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
  • (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
  • (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
  • (37) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
  • (37) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  • (40) Range IO
Level 18: Total Domination
  • (A) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized
  • (19) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Recharge
  • (19) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Endurance/Recharge
  • (21) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance
  • (21) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance/Recharge
Level 20: Long Range Teleport
  • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 22: Mass Hypnosis
  • (A) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep
  • (23) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Recharge
  • (23) Fortunata Hypnosis - Accuracy/Sleep/Recharge
  • (25) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Endurance
  • (25) Fortunata Hypnosis - Chance for Placate
Level 24: Grant Invisibility
  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 26: Terrify
  • (A) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (27) Glimpse of the Abyss - Endurance/Fear
  • (27) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Endurance
  • (31) Glimpse of the Abyss - Fear/Range
  • (34) Glimpse of the Abyss - Accuracy/Fear/Recharge
  • (34) Range IO
Level 28: Subdue
  • (A) Apocalypse - Damage
  • (29) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
  • (29) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (31) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
  • (31) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize
  • (50) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold
Level 30: Phase Shift
  • (A) Endurance Reduction IO
Level 32: Mass Confusion
  • (A) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (33) Malaise's Illusions - Endurance/Confused
  • (33) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Endurance
  • (33) Malaise's Illusions - Confused/Range
  • (34) Malaise's Illusions - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
Level 35: Psionic Lance
  • (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage
  • (36) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance
  • (36) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range
  • (36) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge
  • (37) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 38: Indomitable Will
  • (A) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Recharge
  • (40) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  • (42) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 41: Mind Over Body
  • (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
  • (48) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
Level 44: Psionic Tornado
  • (A) Ragnarok - Damage
  • (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
  • (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (46) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance
  • (48) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown
Level 47: Link Minds
  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 49: Hover
  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 1: Brawl
  • (A) Damage Increase IO
Level 1: Domination
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash
  • (A) Run Speed IO
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide
  • (A) Run Speed IO
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick
  • (A) Run Speed IO
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush
  • (A) Run Speed IO
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge
  • (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure
  • (39) Celerity - +Stealth
Level 1: Sprint
  • (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure
Level 2: Rest
  • (A) HamiO:Golgi Exposure
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift
  • (A) Run Speed IO
Level 2: Health
  • (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  • (50) Miracle - +Recovery
Level 2: Hurdle
  • (A) Jumping IO
Level 2: Stamina
  • (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
  • (39) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
  • (42) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  • (46) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (46) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
  • (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
Level 50: Cryonic Radial Final Judgement
Level 50: Cognitive Core Flawless Interface
Level 50: Warworks Core Superior Ally
Level 50: Clarion Core Epiphany
Level 50: Control Core Embodiment
------------


JanessaVR

Quote from: Arcana on September 23, 2014, 04:46:18 AM
Define "improvement."
Well, I'd say my highest priorities were lockdown ability, recharge (especially since I eschewed Hasten), recovery/endurance, and damage.

Arcana

Quote from: JanessaVR on September 23, 2014, 05:07:17 AM
Well, I'd say my highest priorities were lockdown ability, recharge (especially since I eschewed Hasten), recovery/endurance, and damage.

Well, a small tweak would be to replace the slotting in Psionic Dart to 5 decimations (all but the BU proc) and one thunderstrike dmg/end/rech.  That would buy you 6.25% more recharge and +0.05eps recovery at the cost of -12% regen, which I think is a reasonable trade.

More dramatically, I think on a dominator focusing on control I would strongly consider reworking the build to include Drain Psyche.  It looks like you focused on range thematically, but at high recharge DP is so good for recovery and regeneration that it can make other regen/recovery buffs practically moot, and that might create more options for focusing on other things.  On a Dominator with a lot of control that can expect to hit a lot of targets, Drain Psyche is likely to have a better survival benefit than MoB.

ukaserex

I'd have to agree about Drain Psyche. Although on a Dom it's not a defining power, it's darned useful.

I'm no expert on Dominators, admittedly. But, I had a fire/mental blaster that used Drain Psyche almost as often as fireball. With Domination, it's use wouldn't be as critical, but without perma-dom, I would think Drain Psyche would be a nifty, useful power to have.
Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese

blacksly

Quote from: JanessaVR on September 23, 2014, 05:07:17 AM
Well, I'd say my highest priorities were lockdown ability, recharge (especially since I eschewed Hasten), recovery/endurance, and damage.

Take Drain Psyche.
Why would you 3-slot Celerity? And Flight is overslotted, I think. Especially if you take Drain Psyche for the Recovery boost.

You have 5 single-target ranged attacks other than the Snipe, plus Confuse. I think that's too many single target powers, and I'd drop the Snipe.

If you want more Defense, instead of 4-slotting Stealth, max the Recharge on Link Minds, and put in the last Contagious Confusion slot in Confuse.

Mass Hypnosis makes sense (a bit) for a Controller since it sets up Containment, but I don't think it has much use for a Dominator.


JanessaVR

#6
Ok, response to all suggestions so far:

I've updated my changes so far to my original post.

1)  Psionic Dart and Mental Blast are now identically slotted with 5x Decimation and 1x Devastation: Chance for Hold (as a general rule, I'll take any enhancement that gives me a chance of another Hold).  This ups Haste from +118.75 to +131.25, a very nice improvement.


2)  Drain Psyche - I recognize the benefits of this power, but it's PBAoE with a very small radius of effect, just 10'.  To use it, I would have to be squarely within melee range, and this character is a squishy.  This would be a far more viable power to take if I expected to be right up next to the Tanks/Scrappers/Brutes on my team going to toe-to-toe with the baddies, and I was equipped/purposed to be tossing out team buffs and heals, but this character isn't built that way.  And in general, I prefer to keep my distance.  Every ranged power here has a range of at least 96', some have 120' (I dearly wish I could get them all to 120'), which enables me to hang back from the action, most likely flying and stealthed up near the ceiling, locking down enemies and sniping them from a safer distance (at least the melee types can't get to me then).  A possible improvement might actually be to take Telekinesis instead of Mass Hypnosis, which I could slot with 2x Endurance and 3x Range, giving me 1.37s Endurance Cost and 87' range to use it.  However, I do lose the benefits of a Purple IO set if I do that.


3)  Fly slotting – Fly is my preferred travel power (in fact it's my favorite power in the game, and there were some nights I would just go flying around the zones, listening to the zone/neighborhood soundtracks and taking in the sights), so I want it slotted for as much speed (and as little endurance cost) as I can.

Standard IO slotting would be:

  • Flight Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Flight Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Endurance Reduction (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Endurance Reduction (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
Totals:  268.2% Flight Speed, 0.44s Endurance Cost, no set benefits

IO Enhancement Set slotting is:

  • Soaring: Fly Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Soaring: Fly Speed / Endurance Discount (Level 50+5, both at Schedule A = 33.125%)
  • Freebird: Endurance Discount (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Freebird: Fly Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
Totals:  275% Flight Speed, 0.44s Endurance Cost, set benefits of Recovery 1% and Regeneration 8%

Clearly, at 4x slots, the IO sets are the better choice all around.


4)  Sprint/Surge slotting – I use Celerity: Stealth for extra Stealth.  When combined with Stealth (Concealment pool), it gives 65' Stealth (35 + 30 = 65).  In practice, I found this to be essentially full Invisibility – I could stand right in front of most baddies with both of these toggles on and they couldn't see me.  Since it annoys me to be walking around Stealthed all the time, I put it in Surge instead of Sprint, as a more "on-demand only" option; Surge is the least showy special-effects version of the prestige sprints which is why I chose it instead of Dash, Quick, Rush or Slide.

Standard IO slotting (and the Celerity IO) would be:

  • Run Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Endurance Reduction (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Celerity: Stealth (30' Stealth)
Totals:  76.5% Run Speed, 0.15s Endurance Cost, no set benefits

IO Enhancement Set slotting is:

  • Celerity: Endurance Discount (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Celerity: Run Speed (Level 50+5, Schedule A = 53%)
  • Celerity: Stealth (30' Stealth)
Totals:  76.5% Run Speed, 0.15s Endurance Cost, set benefits of Mez Resistance (Immobilized) 2.2% and Extra Hit Points 15.26

Again, if I was going to be spending 3x slots on this power anyway, I figure I might was well get some set bonuses for them.  The mez resistance is nothing to write home about, but a few extra hit points never hurt.

Angel Phoenix77

A few things, I would change hover into a different power at 49 it is not needed. Also I thought you were only allowed 1 global recharge in any power please correct me if I am wrong.
One day the Phoenix will rise again.

Fridgy Daiere

She may have taken Hover specifically as a mule for that LotG + recharge.  You are correct; one's the limit.

JanessaVR

Quote from: Fridgy Daiere on September 23, 2014, 06:50:44 PM
She may have taken Hover specifically as a mule for that LotG + recharge.  You are correct; one's the limit.
Correct, Hover's just there for my 5th (and therefore last), LotG: Recharge.  I would never actually use it.

primeknight

I have a similar concept for my main but I went controller with mind/kin.  It's a very offensive character and I also use both fly and teleport.  During my initial trek to 50 I was avoiding hasten as well until they implemented the controller changes with doubled area-hold cool down time and halved area-hold duration time.  I took hasten to offset a part of that nerf.  And I almost went with the epic pool with power boost, but I ended up staying with concept and took psi instead.

I probably play similar to you in that I like to play at range for safety, I like to use fly, teleport and stealth as well.   But I have a scrapper-y nature too so sometimes I get into melee to both fill that scrapper void and to fully utilize the kin in "Kintroller".  My tactics might help in your quest to be awesome:

Hover/Flight: My controller was played and designed to rarely touch the ground for concept reasons, but during playing I found that getting a bird's eye view of the battle allowed for easier ranged targeting and controller.  It also helped to have a suppression-less ability usable for quick escapes (when I forgot I had teleport) Hover was slotted up to maximum speed.  (Kin is nice because siphon speed made hover speed = fly speed)

Combat Jumping:  This power is wonderful: I first took it to be able to ignore immobilizes (which on a kin can be fatal).  A good teleporter can probably get around this (teleport was added a few respecs later so in the heat of battle I tended to forget I had it).  CJ has the added effect to make flight movement acceleration/deceleration instant.  And CJ acts as a mule for LotG +Global Recharge.  Also CJ + hurdle is a great combo if hovering and flying all the time isn't your thing.

Single Target Attacks:  As a mind/, levitate, dominate, and mesmerize are the bread and butter of the attack chain.  However one thing I wish I had was another attack since dominate is slotted for hold.  Dominators have lots of options so picking and slotting all the extra attacks is probably the hard part; so how many stat changing attacks is up to you, but 3 or four good single target attacks is usually all I ever need.  I always wanted to get the psi epic Psionic Dart (or whatever it was called), but was never able to figure out how to fit it in and slot it. 

Attack Focus:  My general focus when going offensive is using my two main area attacks: Terrify and Psionic Tornado.  As a controller my first attack was always an area "hold" of some sort to increase average damage output either via containment or confuse damage and then a melee ranged fulcrum shift.  But a dominator should have all the control plus more area attacks for a nice combination of safety and damage.  At least solo, fulcrum shift probably isn't as useful as having the multiple area attacks the Dominators have access to. 

Note:  All this is based on my specific play style and I was far from a min/max kind of a guy.  I also tried to have as many tools at my disposal which made a mind/kin a lot of fun (except when trying to solo an AV or GM)

Incarnate Powers:  Remember because this may be your Main, you're required to incarnate your dude/girl out to the most ridiculous extent possible.  My personal favorites for my play style were:
Alpha: Endurance
Judgment: Ion
Interface: Fire AoT
Destiny: Barrier
Lore: Lightning Elemental
Remember to keep those in mind while you're dominating the game. 

HEATSTROKE

 several things I dont understand... the over slotting of fly.. I dont understand why you took so many Teleport  powers... and Dominators arent as squishy as you think.. foes that are held. stunned feared... etc etc cant hurt  you... by not taking your melee and the big AoE attack you are not taking some of your better damage powers in the set..

Maybe Its just me.. but i never take the snipes for Dominators.. animations are too long.. im better off spamming my mezzes and attacks....

JanessaVR

Quote from: HEATSTROKE on September 26, 2014, 02:19:40 AM
Several things I don't understand... the over-slotting of Fly...I don't understand why you took so many Teleport powers...and Dominators aren't as squishy as you think...foes that are held, stunned, feared...etc can't hurt you...by not taking your melee and the big AoE attack you are not taking some of your better damage powers in the set.

Maybe it's just me...but I never take the snipes for Dominators...animations are too long...I'm better off spamming my mezzes and attacks...
I'm not sure why you think Fly is overslotted - as I said, it's really my favorite power in the game and I tend to have it on nearly all the time.  Ergo, I want it to be fast and cost as little endurance as possible.

Recall Friend is used near constantly as I'm prone to stealthing missions to the end room and then grabbing the rest of the team to join me.  Teleport gives me further immediate mobility, and Long Range Teleport lets me jump zones without bothering to have to visit a train station (or my SG base).

As for melee, you might want to risk getting that close to your enemies, but I'm always leery of that.  There's also a stylistic choice - I prefer to zap enemies from afar rather than run up and punch them in the face.  You might say Doms aren't squishy but that certainly wasn't my experience - I learned to keep my distance from the scrapper-type opponents or they could ruin my day real quickly.  Especially in large groups, if I'm that up close and personal, I might not get every enemy locked down before they were onto me, pounding me into the pavement.  But if I'm hovering 50' up in the air, my odds were much, much higher, as not all enemies can fly or have ranged attacks.  This is another area where a well-slotted Fly came in handy - against purely melee-type enemies, as I long as I stayed hovering up out of reach, I was untouchable and even if it took a while, I could whittle them down with impunity.

As for the snipes, if you hang back from the action, one of the benefits is being able to ride out the interrupt period and slam down some serious damage from a nice, comfortable distance.

primeknight

Quote from: JanessaVR on September 26, 2014, 02:52:14 AM
I'm not sure why you think Fly is overslotted - as I said, it's really my favorite power in the game and I tend to have it on nearly all the time.  Ergo, I want it to be fast and cost as little endurance as possible.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong:  Fly speed is at max from the start without needing any enhancements.  This was due to making it on par with all the fly temporary powers that were added throughout the years.  And the Dev's decided that if someone actually takes a power it should be equal to or better than a temporary power. 

Hover is a much more useful power in battle do to suppression (also and again, siphon speed is wonderful for getting hover up to the speed cap so my perspectives are different, but enhanced hover is still very nice)

JanessaVR

Quote from: primeknight on September 26, 2014, 05:01:12 PM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong:  Fly speed is at max from the start without needing any enhancements.  This was due to making it on par with all the fly temporary powers that were added throughout the years.  And the Dev's decided that if someone actually takes a power it should be equal to or better than a temporary power. 
That certainly wasn't my experience.  I noticed a difference when I slotted IOs versus just empty slots.  And the raptor packs were definitely slower than Fly.


Quote from: primeknight on September 26, 2014, 05:01:12 PM
Hover is a much more useful power in battle do to suppression (also and again, siphon speed is wonderful for getting hover up to the speed cap so my perspectives are different, but enhanced hover is still very nice)
Hover's useful in battle, true, but it's a terrible travel power, which is what I also used Fly for.

Arcana

Quote from: primeknight on September 26, 2014, 05:01:12 PM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong:  Fly speed is at max from the start without needing any enhancements.

My recollection was that Fly was maxed with a single enhancement, although I forget of what strength.  I don't think it was capped out of the box, but practically any slotting at all got you there.

HEATSTROKE

 It is also my understanding that flight maxes out with a single IO enhancement.. I have never slotted fly with more than one level 35 IO.. I have however slotted Hover and Swift with flight enhancements.. and you will be surprised how maneuverable hover becomes... Very very effective in combat because there is no suppression..

JanessaVR

Quote from: HEATSTROKE on September 27, 2014, 01:53:42 AM
It is also my understanding that flight maxes out with a single IO enhancement.. I have never slotted fly with more than one level 35 IO.. I have however slotted Hover and Swift with flight enhancements.. and you will be surprised how maneuverable hover becomes... Very very effective in combat because there is no suppression..
Yes, Hover is good in combat, but even triple Flight slotted, it's a poor travel power (I've tried that).

As for Fly, I might be able to reduce it to one Flight IO, but I still need 2 Endurance Reductions, so it will still be 3 slots at least.

Arcana

Quote from: JanessaVR on September 27, 2014, 05:39:26 AM
Yes, Hover is good in combat, but even triple Flight slotted, it's a poor travel power (I've tried that).

As for Fly, I might be able to reduce it to one Flight IO, but I still need 2 Endurance Reductions, so it will still be 3 slots at least.

If you are only using it for travel, its endurance cost is not critical.  It used to be 1.0 eps, but that was reduced to just under 0.5 eps and at that burn rate a single endred would make it trivial to use for travel even with all your toggles on.  A lot of people remember its original endurance burn rate and never bothered to drop back on slotting when it was reduced.

In fact, I used to use Fly with just one Microfilament slotted (the HO with fly/end enhancement).  Those were usually cheap to get after inventions came out and slot 33% flight, jump, and end reduce, perfect for flight.

ukaserex

Quote from: JanessaVR on September 23, 2014, 05:51:54 PM

2)  Drain Psyche - I recognize the benefits of this power, but it's PBAoE with a very small radius of effect, just 10'.  To use it, I would have to be squarely within melee range, and this character is a squishy.  This would be a far more viable power to take if I expected to be right up next to the Tanks/Scrappers/Brutes on my team going to toe-to-toe with the baddies, and I was equipped/purposed to be tossing out team buffs and heals, but this character isn't built that way. And in general, I prefer to keep my distance.   Every ranged power here has a range of at least 96', some have 120' (I dearly wish I could get them all to 120'), which enables me to hang back from the action, most likely flying and stealthed up near the ceiling, locking down enemies and sniping them from a safer distance (at least the melee types can't get to me then).  A possible improvement might actually be to take Telekinesis instead of Mass Hypnosis, which I could slot with 2x Endurance and 3x Range, giving me 1.37s Endurance Cost and 87' range to use it.  However, I do lose the benefits of a Purple IO set if I do that.

Emphasis in bold added by me.
I recall clearly coming to the CoH forums for some insight and suggestions on certain powerset builds for this or that. And, I'd get that assistance. I'd transfer the build into mids' and look it over - and I'd see some things and scratch my head as to what type of player these folks must be - because they'd choose powers at levels I'd have waited until much later, or go for bonus sets I'd never go for, all kinds of things that gave me one very clear reality:
My playstyle was much different than theirs. Not worse, not better - just different.
And that's okay.

I would say that you've gotten some very good insights by some pretty sharp people - at least, their logic and knowledge intimated such.
Yet, you know your playstyle and what you like better than anyone. And your logic isn't flawed, given the playstyle you have.  Take the meat and spit out the bones - to use a figurative phrase.

I would - however- maybe a couple of years after the game is up - and if your characters have the resources (inf), suggest you try one of the builds as suggested - pretend you like being in melee as a "squishy". With the set bonuses from IO's, squishies are really not that squishy anymore.

A blaster is considered squishy, right? I'd have my celerity stealth, zip in to melee with SS, use drain psyche, zip back out and it was clobbering time.
Yeah, every now and then, a mob might get a lick in before I could get out. (darned suppression) But, that was just one lick, maybe two. Once I zipped out, they were too busy chasing me to hit me. And - I stumbled upon that style of play, just by trying one of the builds that didn't seem to fit my playstyle at all. I preferred SJ to SS and back then, flight was agonizingly slow for me, even though I enjoyed being afk enroute to mission doors that were a long ways away. (gotta eat sometimes)

Just my two cents. 
Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese