Maxzero

Short question: why is this still here? Longer question: MM henchmen are the only power that has certain aspects of it get weaker as the character gains levels. It can't be for balance reasons since in Incarnate content and Dark Astoria the level penalties are removed entirely. Leveling speed seems fairly irrelevant but even in this case MM would hardly be flying even with the removal of penalties. So can we just get this counter intuitive and needless mechanic removed?

It's fine at low levels sure but I find it lacks come endgame. If you have nothing else to fill your ST attack chain fine but for me it's usually one of the first cut.

Hold does not work on Boss or higher (without stacking) which is what you most want to CC. 2ft sleep? Come on man be realistic. Illusion is designed around not having Containment.

Ironically Spectral Wounds is at its worst in Illusion. It's fighting with Blind over the Ragnarok proc and Illusion does not have the Containment to take advantage of the high base damage. It would be top notch in Earth Control.

That's my point though, it is a low priority power that is easy to replace.

Making a proc bomb out of your single target hold is pretty much standard for any serious endgame Troller build due to the lack of good ST attacks for Trollers. Blind is one of the better ones for this since it's animation time is on the faster end plus it's cooldown is 1 second longer the normal ST holds giving it better proc rates. My Blind for example does 400 damage an activation. That's not counting buffs, any random Containments or -res on target. Recharge bonus are not really too hard to get especially if you have access to some KB attacks for FF +recharge to supplement it. Its why Marine goes so well with Illusion. You would far better off making Blind the damage and Spectral Wounds the set mule if you take it.

Sure it is. Blind is the primary damage often running 6 procs. BU proc in PA. Knockback damage proc in Phantasm. You can even proc up Spectral Terror but you usually use sets. Without reliable Containment base damage for Illusion Trollers is a much lower priority.

Yeah but we all know Trollers are all about procs. Spectral Wounds has only 2 procs available and 1 of them is highly contested and unique. Weaken Resolve also does -7.5% resist which benefits all your damage in addition if you need a Ach Heel deliver (90% proc chance) that's another -20 all res and that's game.

You would be right. Spectral Wounds it a very weak attack except as a set mule. It has poor proc options, does not get full Containment damage not to mention the heal back. Weaken Resolve with 3x damage procs and a -res proc is fine and it helps the rest of your powers do much more damage.

Think its missing a few things. According to its description its supposed to increase the damage you do on the targets, reduce the damage they do and if an enemy falls both effects are increased.

Just a quick look over the numbers honestly it seems extremely strong. AoE Res, Def, Rec, Regen, Range(!?), Max HP/end, Recharge, Dam and Hit buffs. Lots of -res and -damage debuffs and even some -Max HP. Will be extremely good versus purple triangles. It looks to be on the same power level as Dark Affinity (IMO the best support set in the game). Is Shifting Tides bonus affect limited to players team or anyone who attacks it? Pets? In raids does it stack from multiple casters?

I would say the only MM build that could compete with time would be a Demons/Cold with Burnout to double stack Sleet and Heatloss -res. There is still an old video of a speed run build doing a 7 second pylon but thats with Lore pet/Consumables, etc. Though the Pylon did die before they finished the the initial -res rotation.

Darkness Affinity basically works with everything since it does just about single support function you could want: Healing, regen, endurance, Def/res buffs, -res/-dam/-hit/-recharge/-regen debuffs and gets a great pet too.

Dom's issue was never output. They can hard AoE CC packs of enemies instantly and do very respectable damage. The main issue was surviving the damage coming back.

The range of attack sets generally is fairly narrow. I mean you have often have very similar power setups (weak attack, less weak attack, AoE, Build Up, etc) and often just one or two powers that really set them apart. Its when you get into the really broad power sets (Buff, MM pets, etc) that numbers can really vary.