Talionis

I would make one of his costumes the Watcher since the running gag in the movies was he might be one of them. I too wish there was a superhero mastermind that would’ve been perfect with Darkness changing the colors to be colorful so it would be like he was painting to protect his heroes.

I’ll point out you can play Trick Arrow on Controllers. Trick Arrow allows for stacking holds and some decent control elements that supplement a Controller play style well.

I think Sonic/Electric. You have a pet to put the damage debuff on. Many attacks a Player Based. You’ll have status protection resists. You can layer sone Defense.

I would check out X/Storm. Storm puts out a lot of damage. Bots, Thugs or Demons. There is a thread just a little below this one for Thugs/Storm.

I was trying to ask about the best farming melee toon. I’m aware Blasters are probably better farmers. It seems to me that the difference between these melee archetypes has shrunk mightily and that there might be a best answer now. It maybe there is still a big enough difference that I’m wrong. what I seemed to see was Brutes were preferred because they have the bigger damage cap and their taunt attacks can keep opponents grouped for them and others to melt enemies. scrappers can do more damage but lack sufficient taunt to keep enemies bunched. Tanks were unnecessary. I heard they were making changes to tanks but I’m unclear if it will push people away from Brutes. presumably all Toons can be made fairly survivable.

I guess I am trying to understand when you build a Brute versus Scrapper versus Tanker versus Stalker. All are very similar. Play styles are similar. I can build the same character as either of these Archtypes and possible as Crabs, Widows, etc. so if I have a melee character idea how do I pick which archetype?

It used to be we needed Tanks to farm, but with the way the game has developed it appears that damage is the most important. Brutes still get taunts and more damage than tanks. But is there a logic to Stalkers or Scrappers being the best melee toons?

Is there something better mechanically than Heat?

That settles it, I’ll go Necromancy to be the Unicorn. Any advice on ancillary/patrons? Since I’m going into uncharted territory....

If you are planning on soloing then Kin/Dark is very good. Defender debuffs are strong and it’s a great way to increase survivability. The -to hit stacks with the defense shields you’ll probably run. if you always are on really big teams Sonic is the better secondary but if you solo Dark is better.

Cry sis, that doesn’t bode well. Necromancy would work too but that’s likely less damage. The problem for you was the lack of power in Trick Arrow?

I was. Thinking fire for my ancillary. Is that smart it works on theme and gives me Bonfire and Fireball (if I want it). Char can stack with our single target hold.

Increasing the rebuff to hit of Flash Arrow seems like it would be helpful, that or have it stack with more -to hit somewhere else in the set. the other thing I would comment on with your comment that Entangling Arrow can target three creatures is that Trick Arrow is a debuff only set and you have no always ontoggles. This hurts action economy and it hurts endurance use. endurance use is not that bad but still hurts especially thematicly for a ranged tech set. action Economy is very real. It feels like Trick Arrow you are constantly clicking and recasting. While I am okay with it, it feels like it should be balanced out by it being a better set on the numbers.

Demons seem offensive in nature, not defensive. Am I missing something? I haven’t played either set. The main biproduct of Demons is reducing enemy resistance. The main biproduct of Necromancy is minus enemy to hit and Life Drains heal and the minions Life Drain attacks. Trick Arrows Flash Arrow stacks with the minus to hit for enemies. I think one of the Aeros also reduces incoming damage which would stack with the resistances that the Demon minions use.

I am planning on returning and think I’ll play a Trick Arrow Mastermind and I am leaning towards Demon or Necromancy for a cursed bow theme. Either could work. Which will be more fun. I am leaning towards a Heat/Fire Ancillary for Hellfire. Seems like Demon is more offensive and Necromancy is more defensive. Any suggestions or hidden gems in making the decision?

Trick Arrow. On high level teams the toons will have high defense on their own. One Kinetic often can max out damage buffs. So it’s the debuffs that make the most difference.

I like the synergies with Bots/Storm. Both have significant Disorient to stack. Storm doesn’t have a heal and the Bots heal themselves. The defense from Steamy Mists stack with Shields from Bots. Bots mature late but once they mature they are very strong and are Defensive. The added damage from Storm is nice with Bots. Pure damage Thugs is probably better but Bots is well rounded and can probably survive tougher missions.

Don’t forget you have a secondary that you have to explain which may explain how bullets can be made to do more damage. Kinetics would increase the energy making the bullets faster, but that is just on example.

I really like your idea to make some of the APP to be a melee focused pool with a couple different melee attacks and shields so that if someone wants to do that it’s supported even if it’s not a good idea, powerful, or optimal.

How does Traps work with Necromancy? Seems like Soul Extraction and Detonator May have synergy. Sacrifice a henchman to be a bomb. Use that corpse for Soul Extraction. Is this worth building around if you can find a theme that works?

That is a great suggestion, but when I had previously played Dark, that cool down from Howling Twilight was brutal. Even heavily slotted its near impossible on an ordinary budget to get it up for every fight. Which is a pity, Dark otherwise is a fairly controlling set and I do like the AoE heal.

So, I am planning on logging in this weekend for the first time. I was going to start a new Mastermind. I had a very successful Dark/Stone Tank that used Disorient to great effect and was hoping to be able to do the same with a Mastermind "Tankermind" I am considering: Bots/Storm, Necro/Storm, Necro/Traps. Bots has an attack that has disorient and the bots themselves can disorient. But Necro has a self heal built into it and the minus to hit from Necro attacks should be roughly as helpful as the Bots shield. Necro Storm would get its disorient defense later when it can stack some disorient from Patron Powers. Necro Traps is interesting because you can Detonate a minion then turn the minion into a ghost? I think... It has the least Disorient, but it maybe fun enough to make work. Necro Storm has a fun theme since it always seems to storm during a horror movie But Bots/Storm has the quickest amount of Disorient. Any suggests or build advice would be helpful. Is there any must have enhancements?