Mesmerize is underrated, and definitely more useful than domino in a stealth run.

Domino is more risky, and to get no detects and no bodies detected the enemies have to be facing away from each other, while with mesmerize that is not necessary.

Not to mention that mesmerize has a huge range, lasts for a very long time if maxed out, and you only have to click once to activate it, while with domino, for 3 or more enemies it could be a struggle, depending on how far away they are from each other, and you also have to worry about them going out of range.

Another advantage mesmerize has is if you want to leave enemies untouched, there's infinitely more room for that to be an option, for reasons that should be obvious.

Now let's quickly go over the disadvantages:

First of all, it costs 14 runes instead of 10 to max out. Whether or not it is a better investment depends on how many runes you collect per level. If you collect all of them, mesmerize is definitely better (for stealth).

Second, shit happens sometimes. Those fallen under its spell will try to move towards it, which can cause them to walk into a wall and lose sight of it.

Last but not least, it always costs the same amount of mana to cast it, while with domino if you are patient you can save mana. It also depends on how efficient your methods of recharging it are. If you have the spirit water bonecharm and/or plenty of addermire solutions then congrats! You never have to worry about mana again.

But don't think that all of these disadvantages can't be accounted for. For the first just use the heart, the second almost never happens, and for the third, mana is just too easy to replenish to be a problem.

To conclude this way too long comment, I don't know why people see domino as the superior tool for stealth, I always saw it as a tool for creative kills (or just high profile kills). It's basically the equivalent of corvo's devouring swarm.