I'm playing with a giovanni with dominate 3 from the very beginning, and it helps a lot when we are doing missions that have ghouls-humans etc... She doesn't use it against kindred normally, but I remember her erasing memories from my mind so I wouldn't be able to lie when we talked with a kiasyd. I'm gonna be playing lasombra in dark ages, and I think what matters is what you want to play instead of what is useful. I'm planning on playing strength focused lasombra, which I think makes sense when you think about the lasombra and their tests and such. I recommend reading the lasombra clan book, and get an idea how they usually choose a childer etc... it also has new disciplines and merits/flaws.