Gobbledigook

Speed some of the Staff Fighting animations up a little and it could be worth playing now 🙂

A Shield/BA or Ice melee could offer some control. Ice has the ice patch and slow. Battle Axe can help keep mobs in a ball with Axe Cyclone. Add in some control/debuffs from the epic pool like quick sand, darkest night etc, Drop a Quick sand and Fold space mobs in. Drop ice patch or use AC to keep them there for example. Throw in Stalagmites and fossilize to if you want.

I did find having +defence rather than +resists made the pets tougher. Better to not get hit at all rather than trying to soak up the damage that the pets just don't have the health for. If i were to make another MM it would be Mercs/Cold or Bots/cold. Good defense and debuffs for extra damage, i just wish it had speed boost also. Increasing the run speed so they keep up or shorten the distance before they teleport to you would make life easier also. That was one of the most annoyiing things for me, waiting for the pets to arrive.

They are decent times yes. I did find Mercs seemed to do better single target dps than Bots. But as i said i wasn't really disputing single target damage so much but rather the AoE. Although i didn't find the single target spectacular either, (especially when they are flailing on the ground), but then i have not procced them out like i said. This game is far more than taking down a Pylon though. You may say they are a Jack of all trades but they take a ton of maintenance are slow and when they get knocked on their ass they sometimes never get back up unless you dismiss them and re summon. They can achieve a decent number on a stationary target but they are very clunky to use. I run ahead with sprint only and turn around and pets are no where in sight. They have AoE but it just seems very poor indeed. I do use the pet binds. But as i said the Trapdoor test gives really bad results from what i see. Why is that? A Jack of all Trades should be able to pull a decent figure there surely. How do the pets, especially melee, survive in a 4* for example?

Those pylon times are probably with Debuffs from the likes of /Cold or from extra damage with /Storm etc. This is also stationary target. The secondary is making the difference i believe on a single large stationary target. With those debuffs/extra damage any AT could probably run a decent time against this target and i am sure they have. Spreading the pets out to individual targets would be really low dps on each target. Even a Defender would AoE that mob down well before the MM pets finish the job. That is if the MM pets can survive the encounter as they are not as robust as a playing AT. They can tank a little but so can a Blaster nowadays. A large AoE could end that though. How are the pets in the harder content? I am sure the pets can do respectable single target damage built well, so can a lot of AT's, but the AoE is not good at all from what i have seen. I have not seen MM's dominating the Trapdoor test. One posted that it took over 20 minutes to clear with a MM when others are doing it 4minutes or less, including Controllers.

I wasn't trying to be funny or overly negative with the MM AT i was just trying to give my honest opinion of my experience with them getting to 50+1. I was hoping i would have had a better experience though as i did quite fancy playing a pet class, maybe a Crab may work. They just aren't for me at the moment and my personal view is they still need some work to improve them. Changing the levels of the pets, increasing run speed so they can keep up better, increasing pet recovery a little, increasing AoE damage a little would in my opinion make them so much better.

A +2 mob is singular. What i am saying is the single target dps of the pets on a +2 mob i tested was not very impressive compared to other similarly built AT's. The AoE damage is near non existent from what i am seeing. I am not saying the pet damage is bad on a single target, i just feel the AoE is pretty bad. I find that the many drawbacks of being a MM is not actually worth playing them yet, for me anyway. I feel they need more work, irrelevant of what other players feel about them. The most effective part of the MM is the secondary. I think i will just stick with a defender or Corruptor for support as the MM is just not for me. They do more AoE damage, can have better buffs/debuffs and take far less work/maintenance. A controller is also a good support in buffing/debuffing and locking whole groups down. I just don't get what the MM brings. Thanks for the lesson on how to play though. Awesome advice.

Ty Tyger that will make a big difference for leveling a new MM 🙂

I have all them but minions are one shotted quite often with little chance to respond with a heal. It's the time it takes the pets to kill just a +2 mob is really bad. I think the MM still needs a ton of work to get more players to use them. I know some players say they do really well with them and i tip my hat to them but for me they are just not good at all.

I have been trying a few MM's lately also. A Mercs/NatureA and the most recent a Bots/Time. The Mercs/NA i dumped because even with 90% resists they just died so fast to AoE even in aggresive that re summoning became tiresome. The Bots/time is much better as they rarely get hit and i can heal that back up quickly. The damage the pets put out is very bad in the AoE department and mediocre single target. I have not added procs yet though and did not level them with a full IO build, though i do have all the pets buffs Io's and a few other IO sets. Slotting the +def/resist IO's takes up much needed slot space in pets also. Other AT's will at least AoE mobs down whilst these MM's seem to want to take each mob one by one as the AoE is near non existent. If i join a team and get mentored i have to re summon the pets again at every new mission due to them dropping levels. I don't know if there is a way to avoid this? Why do they even have all different levels? why can they not be the same as the players level and increase with incarnate shift to +1? I have tried to get into them but they just seem too much work for very little reward. I can do very well with other AT's but im quicly losing patience with the MM. Is this normal or i am getting it so badly wrong also lol? The other big gripe i have with them is how slow they are at catching you up. It would be nice to have an instant summon to your side button or just increase their run speed. They run low on endurance fast also even with slotting it up. A 52 Praefectus Castorum takes an age to kill with Bots and the others in the mob just don't take hardly any AoE. Yet the PC ran in and one shotted one of my minions lol.

If you can afford them add a few procs to cover the Tankers damage.

It is quite a tanky build and i think you may have got better returns just going Tanker and adding a few damage procs. Unless you are against procs. The build is fine if that is what you wanted though. I turned the melee core off.

I have not really tried TW much but does it not have it's own rotation during momentum with plenty of AoE. Would Burn be used/needed much?

Yes it would be nice if a developer looked at the post to clarify. I presume it is an oversight otherwise that is just picking on Fire mastery lol.

The sentinel gets Blaze also. The difference is that Blasters get a sniper attack in Blazing bolt and Sentinels get Blazing blast with a repel effect. But yes it could be that way or as i was wondering whether it was just an oversight. It is the only version of Cremate that does not have it so i am inclined to believe it is an oversight as the other melee attacks from the Sentinel epics match with other AT's. Cremate, which is the newest to be reworked, is the only one that does not

I noticed that Cremate in the epic Fire Mastery pool does not do Knock up like other newer versions. Is this an oversight?

It's a shame we don't have the dominators version of Hurl Boulder. 1.5 second animation compared to 2.5. Hurl would make it into more builds if it was.

It worked well in the ITF you just did anyway :). Hurl though....ew lol.

I have some older builds that may give you some ideas. You will need to swap jab with punch and you can swap Taunt with Darkest night if you prefer. You can also throw another proc in KB if you prefer also. This one has some offensive power whilst still being fairly tough. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Natural Tanker Primary Power Set: Shield Defense Secondary Power Set: Super Strength Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Deflection -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(3), ImpArm-ResPsi(5), Rct-Def(13), Rct-Def/EndRdx(15) Level 1: Jab -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(9), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9) Level 2: Battle Agility -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(11), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(11), ShlWal-Def(13), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(50) Level 4: True Grit -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(15), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(17), ImpArm-ResPsi(17), Prv-Heal(19), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(19) Level 6: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 8: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 10: Haymaker -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(25), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(27), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27) Level 12: Phalanx Fighting -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29) Level 18: Grant Cover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 20: Knockout Blow -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A), UnbCns-Dam%(29), Hct-Dam%(31), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(31), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(33) Level 22: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 24: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(33), LucoftheG-Def(50) Level 26: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(33), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(34), UnbGrd-Max HP%(34), GldArm-3defTpProc(34), ImpArm-ResPsi(36) Level 28: Rage -- GssSynFr--Build%(A) Level 30: Weave -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(36), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(36), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Rct-ResDam%(48) Level 32: Shield Charge -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Erd-%Dam(39), Obl-%Dam(39), ScrDrv-Dam%(39) Level 35: Gloom -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Dam%(40), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Apc-Acc/Rchg(42), CldSns-%Dam(42) Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Arm-Acc/Rchg(43), Arm-Dam%(43), FrcFdb-Rechg%(45) Level 41: Dark Obliteration -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), PstBls-Dam%(45), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(46), CldSns-%Dam(46), JvlVll-Dam%(46) Level 44: Super Jump -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 47: One with the Shield -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Ags-Psi/Status(48), ImpArm-ResPsi(50) Level 49: Taunt -- PrfZng-Dam%(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(21), Mrc-Rcvry+(21) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(23), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(48) Level 44: Double Jump Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 50: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon ------------ This one is stupidly overkill defensive lol. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Tanker Primary Power Set: Shield Defense Secondary Power Set: Super Strength Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Deflection -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(3), ImpArm-ResPsi(5), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50) Level 1: Jab -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(7), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9) Level 2: Battle Agility -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(13), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(15), ShlWal-Def(15) Level 4: True Grit -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(17), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(17), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), UnbGrd-Max HP%(19), ImpArm-ResPsi(21) Level 6: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21) Level 8: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 10: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 12: Phalanx Fighting -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(23), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(23), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), GldArm-3defTpProc(25), ImpArm-ResPsi(27) Level 16: Weave -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(27), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(29), Rct-ResDam%(31) Level 18: Grant Cover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(31) Level 24: Stealth -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(31), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), ShlWal-Def(33) Level 26: Haymaker -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(34), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(36) Level 28: Knockout Blow -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(37) Level 30: Rage -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--Build%(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(40) Level 32: Super Jump -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 35: Gloom -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(40), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(43) Level 38: Foot Stomp -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(45) Level 41: Dark Obliteration -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(46), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(48), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(48) Level 44: Darkest Night -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(A) Level 47: One with the Shield -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), ImpArm-ResPsi(48), Ags-Psi/Status(50) Level 49: Taunt -- PrfZng-Taunt(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(11), Mrc-Rcvry+(11) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(13) Level 32: Double Jump Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 50: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon ------------

I have farmed many times with a Rad/SS and a Bio/SS Tanker. Yes they can be effective with enough procs in the build. Footstomp, Dark Obliteration and Rad therapy with GZ when it is up can clear trash fast. Drag the bosses to next group. Bio is better for bosses. It was never as fast as a fire Brute though. A SS/Rad Brute will only lose a little AoE vs a Tanker with footstomp hitting 10 instead of 16. But the Brute will hit harder usually.

I think that would be me lol...well sometimes anyway. Just misunderstood 😛 SS/Bio is a lot of fun. Enjoy 🙂

Shield/War Mace seems the obvious choice.

BS is probably due a buff like Ba had. BS isn't that bad just not as good damage as some other sets. It does bring a survival buff and will be fine with a tanking build. If you like BS then play that. BA and WM are good options.

I suspect it would be a EM/Bio Scrapper, although a Mastermind or Veat Crab with pets may be interesting. Are debuffs from Cold for example allowed?

Furry Muff.