Dr Causality

Good question. I would hope it just applies to Taunt sets, to prevent the Burn patch from Taunting which would be unbelievably broken levels of mitigation. 🙂

Good to know. I'll probably test Psi on Beta server. But I stuck it out a bit and am really liking the AOE and playstyle I'm getting from Savage right now at 30.

In terms of build strategy, I’m finding these Stalker builds to be surprisingly complicated because of the many +Rech enhancements in the sets you need for Def bonuses working against optimal PPM chances for all the dmg and utility procs you want to sneak into builds. Given that seems like you need to designate a few powers as dumps for all the detrimental to PPM chances +Rech enhancement IO's that you’re stuck with for set bonuses. Low Recharge powers make great dumps since they already will have poor proc chances, so you don't give up much be further ruining them. 🙂 It also seems wise to design your lvl 50 builds around the Alpha you’ll take, so you can leverage the bonuses to save on your power slotting. Nerve or Vigor Core look like the ways to go to me here. With Musculature being next best. Nerve is worth about 3 - 4% global Def on a Shield Stalker and the Acc means you can short slot many attack powers. Vigor gives about 55HP, 2 HP/s Regen and the Acc & End Reduction will likewise let you get away with shorter slotting for End Reduction and should be very helpful with End Recovery issues. (Agility and Spiritual are ruled out due to the +Rech undermining PPM chances…) The ATO Hide proc needs to go into Assassinate to avoid accidental mid combat slooooow AS attacks. But importantly at 5PPM for the Hide proc, AS slotting needs to stay below 53% +Rech to keep at capped 90% chance to hide proc-ing. This is a pain in ass because the Hide proc itself is 23% +Rech, so you can only spare another 30% +Rech slotting. Worse yet all the ATO IO’s except the ACC/DMG have +Rech, meaning optimally you can never slot more than 3 from a set of ATO IO’s in AS without reducing your chance to hide. For instance the full set of Superior Stalkers Guile drops your Hide chance down to around 71%. Also, just the 23% from the Hide proc on it's drops your standard 3.5 PPM dmg procs chances down to a 77%. On my take that means optimal AS slotting for most builds is probably 3 x Superior Guile for the +Def bonus using [Hide Proc], [Acc/Dmg], [Acc/Dmg/End/Rech], but leaving you at a relatively safe 46% +Rech. That cuts standard 3.5PPM dmg procs down to a 66%, with Hecatomb still near cap at 86%. The PPM calculations will be almost identical for Hemorrage, meaning to take advantage of procs you won’t be able to slot enough ATO’s there to get the set bonuses, so will probably be best frankenslotting. True Grit can get you around 10% HP if slotted for Heal. So if you can fit it in it's great with a 3 set of Numina’s (only actually uses two slots since you move the Numina proc you already had over from Health to grab the extra HP bonus from now having three…) I don’t like Combat Jumping on Shield Defense characters. Reason being that one of the justifications I have for taking CJ it's an ideal LOTG mule for a no additonal slot Rech bonus plus Immob protection. But Shield already has enough powers to easily hit the 5 LOTG cap and has it’s own Immob protection. In SD builds where you need the Defense from CJ you can probably free up a power slot by going Nerve to make up the +Def. I know a lot of people count on it to make Super Speed more vertically mobile. My workaround is a Macro/Bind that toggles between SS and Ninja Run when I need to jump. But this approach means you need to have the Recovery to run SS all the time. And if you already have the recovery to spare, then on a Stalker you already have stealth. In that case in tight builds maybe even better to skip SS, freeing up a power slot and just use Ninja Run for getting around. But travel powers are part of what makes the game fun, so use what enjoy. These builds are all desperately short on slots in my experience. Many people skip 'One with the Shield' but it's a good slot mule for unique's like Gladiator's +3% Def or Preventative Medicine +Absorb that only have value as a global unique. What Frostricus already said about Grant Cover: To be sturdy you really need it against any enemies that have any significant Defense debuffs. For instance the difference against Crimoreans on ITF’s is immense. I think it's more important on Stalkers since they don't have the HP and Regen/s to withstand what someone cleverly called 'Cascading defense failure' that happens when the debuffs start stacking letting continually more debuff hit you. I'll try to whip up and post a sample build from what I was working on...

**Update** I stuck it out to 30 and then fully kitted out a leveling build. The added survivability and recovery from the IO's, plus the damage increase from leveling and slotting up Hemorrhage completely tipped me. I'm having so much fun with the set now, especially all the aoe, that I think I want to stick with Savage. (I've been able to run +2/+8 Radios w/ bosses with moderate inspiration use.) So the question has now changed to do I want to stick with Bio or reroll as Shield Defense? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was planning on making a Psi/Bio stalker but on a whim rolled my first Savage Melee instead. I'm in the mid 20's now it was a fun ride. But I'm wondering about the longterm Pro's and Con's vs Psi on a /Bio Stalker? My thoughts are: Overall Savage Melee has significantly more aoe and will be much easier to level. But I'm wondering if once they're lvl 50, a fully tuned Incarnate Psi/Bio will out perform Savage? My thinking is Savage attacks have no mitigation, and no chance to use/abuse ForceFeedback. Once Psi is fully tuned it should be able to have very good uptime on the FF proc, making it's effective Rech way ahead of Savage. More Rech matters because it makes Bio sturdier since you can use Ablative, DNA Siphon and Parasitic more often, which also can help solve any endurance issues. Psi also has two decent sources of KD for mitigation. Seems like Psi should also have slightly better single target dmg. Meanwhile at high level Savage will end up using it's stacks of +Rech and -End Reduction buff charges while cycling attacks. So what Savage will have going for it is more AOE and a source of -Res proc slotting. Both will have damage types that are fairly highly resisted at high levels, so probably a wash there. Finally, I'm trying to think through how best to make use of 'Savage Leap.' Seems like a really fun power and like Frosticus says, looks like you can get a lot of mileage from procs. But since it breaks you from hide and also need maximum travel distance for dmg, when do you use it? If you use it as an opener you give up your free Crit. But if you use while already in a mob, then you give up the damage since you're not traveling full distance? So when do you use it? Building on that what's great about Savage Leap on paper is 40s base recharge is high enough to give good proc chances, but low enough to actually be up quite often on high recharge build -- giving you good return on proc slots. The problem I see is when it's up again mid fight, you'll already be in melee range so won't get much damage from it. So overall it seems like a fun novelty, but will be most useful when spawns are spread out or to get to the sapper/healer. So now I'm starting to think maybe I should re-roll my Savage as a Shield Defense. Then also make the original Psi/Bio I was originally planning. 🙂 Savage/Shield seems like it could make better use of Savage Leap, since you can open with Leap for good proc chances, then follow up with Shield Charge, which has KD mitigation and reliable FF proc. That combo seems like it would easily be worth giving up the opening Hide Crit. Savage Melee Pro's Easier to level, especially solo because you get More aoe overall, and at much earlier levels Inherent +Rech and -Endurance reductions from attacks Has slot for Achilles -Res, which can also take Fury -Res. Con's Not much mitigation No opportunity to abuse the FF proc S/L damage type is frequently resisted in later game Savage Leap difficult to make good use of on Stalkers, since it needs max range for damage, but isn't a good Opener since it breaks Hide depriving you of your guaranteed Crit opener... Blood Frenzy stacks will be lost during optimal attack chains, so you can't count on the +Rech or End reductions buffs. Psionic Melee Pro's While leveling some early ranged mitigation from Bogle (very useful for instance on Sappers...) Decent Knockup Mitigation and chances for FF procs from Telekenetic Blow (once you hit 21 and can slot FF) Good aoe Knockup mitigation and chances for FF procs once you get to lvl 33+ so you can Slot Mass Levitate Good single target attacks chains and damage Con's Slow solo leveling due to Only one aoe attack That you don't get until lvl 32 !@##$ Insight Mechanic doesn't seem that useful Psi damage is highly resisted by some enemies in later game

Interesting, I must have gotten it confused with BG not working when tell pets to attack your target, even if they are in Defensive... If BG mode works with Defensive Goto, then all ranged MM sets have a lot of tactics available now with these changes. For Tankermind builds you'll finally be able to have your pets stand safely away from the AOE damage in AV fights while you Taunt the AV.

I finally got around trying out pets after the recent update that just fixed ranged Bots, Mercs and Thugs tie1 and tier2 henchmen from running into punch things when they have guns and lasers. Pretty amazing difference. With this change it should be so easy to level up either Bots/Storm, Mercs/Storm, or Thugs (since the update also applied to their tier1 and tier2.) Once you get Hurricane, you can just leave it running and the pets stay near you in defensive bodyguard mode, so well inside of your Hurricane safe zone. All the critters keep trying to run at you, into the Hurricane so keep getting repelled and Knocked Down, while the pets just stand there and picking them off like it's a shooting gallery. It also felt like a notable DPS increase, which makes sense because their melee attacks are weak, combined with anytime they spent running to a target was time they weren't attacking...so now pets are attacking more frequently with their higher dmg attacks... This is a big mechanics tactics change. What new strategies or play styles do you think this will open up or will be best now? I'm thinking storm will be helped the most. Followed maybe probably Traps. But any 2ndary set that creates a safe or kill zone, or has tools to keep critters at a distance should be significantly better now with Bots, Mercs or Thugs. Hurricane slotted with KB to KD, already mentioned was easy mode. Bonfire was also effective. Bots stayed in the safety of the Bonfire with Overwhelming proc, while I Taunted enemies to come fight us in the flames. Any enemies that made to the Bonfire without dying just started bouncing from the Overwhelming proc, then Assault Bot laid his Burn Patch on top of the Bonfire and the mobs just melted. So setup works like drop Bonfire around a corner. Tell Bots to stay, run around the corner to pull, then run back stand in your Bonfire, and set Bots back to Defensive. The Critters come around the corner into the firing range and the ones that don't immediately die end up bouncing in the Bonfire, while the Bots pick them off. Only problem was eating AOE's. But if playing a Tankermind, that can be solved once you get a feel for how far away from pets you can move without them following you. Once you a feel for that distance you can taunt the initial attacks to your MM while you're a safe distance from pets... But also any immobilize or significant slow power that keeps critters from closing the gap, should let your pets just pick them off at range.: So /Dark's Tar Patch or /Time's Distortion Field slotted for a bit of slow. Caltrops, Glue Arrow etc. For leveling probably any reliable AOE Knockdowns you can cycle or combine with Slows would work well. So early /Storm's Gale should be great before they get Hurricane. Or probably even any aoe with chance of KB slotted with an Overwhelming proc, to make it more reliable. So the recent 'Wall of Force' from 'Force of Will' pool with /Thug's Empty Clips, /Merc's M30 Grenade. Or if you can't cycle KD's, then a KD combined with slows like Tar Patch, or maybe even /Cold's Snow Storm should let you keep mobs at distance while pets shoot them. Once you get access to immoblize from the Epics should be easy mode. Using support healing zones should be much better now too. Pets will finally stay in Nature's Lifegiving Spores or Triage Beacon's healing field... Should be easier to keep pets near Dark Servant now, so /Dark will likely be more self-sufficient. Thoughts? The funny thing is I'm not sure how I'm going to play my normal Tankermind style now. I used to count on the pets being bugged to do melee attacks, so I planned on MM being in the heart of the battle with them, so that pets were always nearby enough for heals and buffs. (Except of course there was always that one that ran off by itself to punch something...) But now if I run to specific targets the pets tend to stay where they are shooting things, so we get spread out. And when they do move to follow me they don't come all the way to what I'm attacking. If I command them to move to spot near me, then it would take themout of BG mode. I guess I could just spam follow until they get to where I am, but that would stop them from shooting for that time. Definitely a game improvement I'm super excite to have, but I will have to relearn how to play my Bots and Thugs.

Interesting, I had a similar starting point but chose Bots because the extra +10% Def Shield one of the Protector Bots puts on your Character makes it much easier to softcap, letting you got for more Rech Bonuses while still staying safe. It worked surprisingly well because the Bots would run into melee range to punch things, so were always in heal range. I haven't tested that toon with the improved ranged pet AI that's now out, so although it was an amazing improvement for the game, it might not turn out all well for my Bots/Kin 😏

But it's so much more meaningful and appreciated after waiting 32 long levels.

I guess the reason I haven't thought about it is because I tried it back on live on a Controller when it first came out. From what I recall, like you're saying the soft control added up to pseudo hard control. But compared to say Plant, Fire, Grav, or to a lesser extent even Earth Control (with procs).....killing critters felt like I was slowly tickling them to death with electrical current. Could be kind fun if you're a sadist, with all the time world. And sure tickling them was pretty safe for my character. But solo missions were taking forever to complete. I can see how it would be significantly better on Doms with the 2ndary being attacks instead of support powers. But even with the DPS coming from your 2ndary, I would still expect it to lag behind other top Control sets in DPS. I guess the thing about control at this stage in the game, is it feels less necessary to have full lock down now that we can shore up Defenses and Resistance with increased IO set bonuses, have extra power choices freed up from the Inherent Fitness Pool, get Incarnate powers and pets, etc. But I've been wanting to try Dom's Earth Assault set and from this thread it seems like it would be a good pairing with Electric Control, so maybe I'll give it go. I haven't tickled anyone in years, might be fun. 😉

Will the Brute almost exclusively duo with your character? Because if so there will some be very specific support sets that would free up the Brute to really optimize their build into something very incredibly deadly. Mainly, you're going to want to free them up from chasing +Def set bonuses allowing them to tune their build towards Rech, Dmg and Resistance bonuses. If you do that then /Fiery Aura can probably be made into the highest DPS of the melee armor sets. Broken down in more detail: Fiery Aura - Already has damage, Self-heal, Endurance Recovery, and some decent Resistance What's missing from the set: Survivability Defense Mitigation like Mezzes, Debuffs (-Tohit, -Rech etc.), and Knockback/Knockdown KB Protection (but easily filled from IOs if you have spare slots...) Offense -Regen -Res +Rech (which also helps with survivability since /Fiery has it's own heal) Look at sets that provide those things. So for support sets I would look primary at: Anything /Time -- since you get access to Powerboosted Farsight for from +22% Def on MM's to +33% on Defenders, (with Controllers and Corruptors in the middle...) Time would also give a sizable +50% Rech bonus, some decent debuffs. /Darkness Affinity Controller -- Not the Dark Miasma that Corruptors, Defenders and MM's get, only the Controller version 'Darkness Affinity because it has Fade which can be Powerboosted up to around +27% Def. Add in Shadowfall +6% Def and Maneuvers +3.6% Def letting you easily get over +35% aoe Def team buff. This would be top surviviability because Dark also has significant +Res in Shadowfall, great Heals, a massive +Regen and +Rec buff (Soul Absorbtion which again only Controllers get), -Res, -Tohit and -Regen (bc you use Howling Twilight as a debuff on AVs...) Oh and you get a healing debuffing pet. As for pairings for your duo, I'd go Fire, Darkness, ILL, Grav or Earth since they can all do respectable damage (some like Earth requiring proc monster builds to get their...). Plant is also a great set and pairing with Darkness Affinity. But you might not choose it for your duo because while powerful and high damage with procs the Carrion Creepers and Confuse can make it more challenging for your Brute hold aggro and tightly pack mobs into their Melee flames.... Anything /Cold -- Ice Shields + Artic Fog let you offer close to +23% Def on MM up to nearly +30% on Defender. Frostwork is a Massive HP buff. Your resistances are largely wasted on /Fiery Aura since it already has strong Fire and Cold resistance. But where /Cold shines is single target debuffs.....it's an AV/GM killer. But two notable differences from the other options: (1) /Cold cannot buff their shields with Powerboost and (2) /Cold cannot shield itself, so you will not be as sturdy and will have to depend more on the Brute taunting to stay safe. Unless you go Controller and pick something like Dark or ILL that has taunt pets for mitigation... But this makes for a playstyle difference in that /Time and /Dark Controllers builds can be built sturdy enough that they can fight from melee range using Stone Mastery Epic attacks. /Cold is never going to get the personal defense to comfortably do that (and trying for it in set bonuses means weakening your primary powers since you'd be giving up +Rech bonuses needed to make your /Cold debuffs up often...) If none of those are appealing: VEATs -- could also be made to work since they can stack Def bonuses from multiple higher power Maneuvers and they get access to many spots to place -Res procs. But you'll be missing -Regen in your Duo. For a support build you can pick up 'Spirit Ward' from Sorcery so you can have an Absorb buff to give the Brute. And you pickup the Medicine pool to become a single target healer. Traps -- I find it a bit slow moving for the pace of the game, since most of the powers are stationary and Force Field Generator is slow moving. But /Traps checks all the boxes: +Def, -Regen, -Res. One honorable mention is the Force Field Generator gives you some mezz protection lacking from the other support sets. Something to consider when making your choice is some of these sets get their central Def support powers at very difference levels. I won't go into too much detail. But all Cold versions gets their def shield power almost immediately. Defender /Time gets Farsight at lvl 18. Darkness Affinity gets Fade at lvl 20 and Shadowfall at lvl 16. MM and Corruptor /Time will be a late bloomer not getting Farsight until lvl 28. And you don't get Powerboost until you have Epic Powers unlocked, so the top Defense numbers won't be available through most of the leveling process.

Perhaps, I came off a bit wrong. I absolutely loved the original Mid's. I loved Pine's update. And not exaggerating, if it weren't for Mid's Reborn, I probably would not keep playing this game. So I greatly appreciate the time and effort that Crytilis, Maslow and Pine have devoted to it. But the first version of Pine's I used came from a random Dropbox link in a forum post. Who was Pine? Was it actually Pine's version of Mid's I downloaded from that Dropbox link? Or was it Pine's version in a handy new malware wrapper? AV scanning catches only common discovered malware; the era where you could scan something and be confident it was clean is long past. The caution here has nothing to do with false positives from AV, or trusting people I've never met. It has do with acceptable risk. These days your computer being exploited will often impact many people besides yourself, so even if I'm personally okay with the risk, I'm not okay with subjecting other people who depend on me to that risk. Even now that it's on Github, who has both the expertise and the time to look through the code base? Even if the code base is clean, even if you trust the developers and go through the hassle to compile it yourself, you're still not necessarily safe.....it's not really even about trust. Not only do I not know the developers.....What do we know about the their own security hygiene? Consider CCleaner: mainstream signed software trusted by millions for decades. They were hacked and their own software update process used to push out malware. The security concepts here are simple. Don't take unnecessary risks on systems that you use for finance, work or other important tasks. Obscure code from internet strangers, even internet strangers I love, is an unnecessary risk. But I like Mid's enough that I'd like to be able use it, even when when I'm away from my dirty gaming system.... So yeah I'd like to be able to to easily run MId's in a VM without using up system resources or infringing on licensing. How could Windows S possibly help?? I still couldn't run Mid's on it and I never stated I wanted to install, let alone only install, apps from the garbage MS store. And Edge?? The only way Edge might possibly be more secure is that it's used by so few people that's unlikely anyone bothers researching or coding exploits for it....

I saw the MacOS guide, but haven't seen anything for Linux. Wondering if there are any guides to getting Mid's Reborn running in Linux? Or if someone would make one? Preferably for a lighter weight distro that would run well in Virtualbox. If I could easily run Mid's in Virtualbox, then I can work on builds on work computers (....of course only during lunch. 🙂) But as a Linux noob I found it challenging to get Wine, Winetricks, .NET4.7.2 all properly installed, and then get Mid's working. Seems like this would be useful to the community. The situation is much better now that it's on Github, but I've frequently seen it mentioned that folks are reluctant to install Mid's because of security concerns about 3rd party code. Having a straight forward way to run it as a sandboxed Virtual Machine would alleviate any worries.... Anyway, if no one else makes a guide, I'll eventually get around to making one myself. But having spent several largely unsuccessful hours already, I can promise you it will be better if someone knowledgeable in Linux does it. 😉

I'm figuring it's just an Achilles proc mule anyway. Long power recharge makes PPM pretty much 90% cap, but builds with high Rech from set bonuses and Hasten can get it easily below 15s. Not perfect but that means as a one slot wonder, it will deliver in the ballpark of 2/3rds Achilles uptime.... Should help some builds in solo AVs fights.

I'd 2nd Energy Epic for it's Powerboost being the way to go. It's gives a massive boost the Defense in Fade, which means it benefits you're entire team, and even for soloing that means pets, including Lore Incarnate. You should be able to easily fill in missing Endurance needs with procs, Endurance buff from Alpha, and if needed Destiny Ageless.

It's sad that it's only a Mag2 Stun, but it does stack very nicely with Soul Mastery's 'Oppressive Gloom' which gets it up to a Mag4, so even stuns bosses...

Wait to you try it with a +5 boosted Ranged Enhancement. 🙂

Like Omega-202 said the procs stack with whatever other mezz the target is under, even from the same power the proc is slotted into. The reason to use the Devastation proc instead of the Lockdown, is Devastion is a 3 PPM, whereas Lockdown is just a 2.5 PPM. It makes a surprisingly big difference in how recharge you can get away with. In Spirit Shark Jaws w/ Devastation you should be able to go up to roughly 98% Rech slotting while still staying at the 90% proc chance cap. Whereas with Lockdown you'd have to stay under 27% recharge. So by using the Devastation version you can get away with taking Alpha Spiritual for a 45% Recharge boost, plus some +Rech slotting from Basilisks and still be at the 90% cap...

An important detail still missing is what are their resistances? It's one thing to put them to sleep, but another to keep them slept long enough to do much to their friends...

I think it would make a good Sadist villain RP build, like a well fed cat toying with mice. But it will be low dmg for a dom since Elect is low dmg for a primary and psi is low damage for 2ndary.

It's missing -Regen and has survivability issues due to single target heal, not have capped def or res for pets, etc.. But once you get it proced out it has very respectable -Res and the highest 2ndary Dmg of all MM sets. Fully IO-ed as long as it doesn't die it should be the clear DPS king. The challenges are keeping yourself and pets alive long enough to deliver that damage... And that even AVs will run from your /Storm powers, so you need a way to hold them in place for /Storm power to deliver its damage.

I've been meaning to test and verify so it's interesting to hear that Enforcer's Leadership bonuses still stack across different player's Thugs. I always imagined that would eventually get patched out of the game, since it's beautiful but seems pretty unbalanced... As far as resistance 2ndaries: /Nature also worth looking at since not only does it get an okay Resistance Shield, it's the only set that would has an aoe team Absorb buff from Wild Bastion, that effectively increases the pets HP pool. Sonic gets you some mezz protection on top of the resistance buffs and debuffs. Thermal has awesome debuffs. With Def capped pets but the MM's themselves not necessarily capped, you probably won't want to play in Bodyguard mode. In that case /Kin would be better than it usually is on a MM because you could use the goto command to put pets all next to an enemy for you cast Transfusion heal onto. Whereas in Defensive bodyguard mode the Thugs are often spread out away from enemies so /Kin can really struggle to heal ranged pets. /Kin damage buff combined with another a strong debuff set should reallly push damage into an impressive tier. But I'd prefer survivability so would lean towards the Resistance sets. You also could put out some insane dmg from 2 or 3x /Storm. But still great damage while being more balanced and survivable might something like /Nature, /Sonic, and /Kin. That would give a decent amount of everything. Another cheesy thing you can do is all take Soul Mastery for 'Oppressive Gloom' at Mag2 each stacked by three MM's that would be a constant aura of Mag6 Stuns, or even just 2x would still Mag4 so would stun pretty much everything except EBs, AVs, and GMs....

I have a slight difference of opinion here. If you play Tankermind Style where you stay in Bodyguard mode, then you most certainly have a large enough hit point pool from your pets to massively benefit from Resistance. Your resistance reduces the damage you take, which reduces the portion of damage that is then distributed onto your pets in Bodyguard mode. So if your playing Tankermind style where you're taking attacks onto your MM itself, resistance can make the difference between your pets surviving or being wiped out Pb/aoe attacks that get past defenses. If you can only choose one of the two, then like Hyperstrike says Defense is probably better. But it's worth trying to get both, because even with strong defensive you will get hit at least 5% of the time. My bias here is to get to around or slightly above 32.5% Def and then after that build to maximize resistance. My reasoning is that the game strongly favors Defensive over Resistance in inspiration buffs. You only need to get to 45% Def and small purple inspiration is 12.5% more than a quarter of the way there. Where as small orange resistance insps are only 10% and the cap for a MM is 75%. Applying that to MM builds, it's very easy using just one small purple inspiration to get you the missing 12.5% Defense, whereas it takes 4x small orange Resistance insp's to replace just the 40% you can get from an Epic Shield or even two to replace the 20% you get from Tough. As long as your willing to use inspirations and can get to 32.5% from a combo of powers and set bonuses, then Epic Resistance shields strongly out perform Epic Defensive shields like Hyperstrike's build looks good to me. It gets decent resistance and overall defense while hitting ranged soft cap. That means if you hate futzing with inspirations, then as long as you stay at range, you should not need them. Personally, I would consider trying to squeeze in 'Howling Twilight'. It's a -500% Regen debuff that greatly helps against AVs or GMs. It has a long cooldown and only lasts for 30s, so greatly benefits from high recharge and can be tempting to skip. But HP Regen per second depends on total HP, so even that 30s can be enough to help you get an AV's HP down far enough that then even once the debuff wears off you can still do enough damage to continue outpacing the AVs regen.... Even a mere 30s can make the difference. But if you're fine using temp powers you can easily get -Regen by purchasing Envenomed_Dagger from the p2wv freeing up the power slot like Hyperstrike has done... The challenge Demon/Dark will have is you cannot softcap your pets without Barrier. With max slotting you get them approaching 32% when the doubled Hybrid T4 Support Core Embodiment is up: ~6% Shadowfall ~4% Maneuvers 10% Pet IOs bonuses 12% Hybrid T4 Support Core Embodiment That means you probably also want Barrier for difficult fights, in which case you might decide to take a different Hybrid. But pb/aoe damage is a MM's worst enemy and notably even without Barrier the +15% AOE Def ATO combined with Hybrid can get your pets to 47% AOE Def, so above softcap. On top of that Hybrid T4 Support Core Embodiment still gives you a small bit of +Dmg and decent Endurance reduction, so even with Barrier Support still might be the best overall Hybrid option for MM's....

What level was the ITF set to? Was it +4 levels or something? This seems rough and quite odd that a whole team couldn't do enough damage, because for instance several of my MM builds have been able to solo it a +2/+8 and a Blaster posted about doing to it +4/+8.... So a whole team definitely shoulda been able to do it. But admittedly that last AV fight is the difficult one due to the Healing Nictus. Lately, alot of teams have so much aoe that they've been able to kill one of the Nictus before Romulus. Also, if there's every an chance of having trouble with the final AV fight, definitely take your time to safeguard and bring Imperious along with you. He's a spazzy pain in the ass that will run off aggroing anything in sight getting himself killed, but he also can do a lot of damage to the AV... You already rolled a /Storm and it should be great. But I wanted to add that /Radiation would probably be better at low levels because they get their core set defining powers early by say level 20, whereas /Storm has most of their best powers after level 20.

Ha! I have several of these builds too and it's what led me to look at the Leviathan MM Gimmicks I posted about: Here's a very extreme version, where I give up capped Smash/Lethal Resistance down to a still respectable 59% and Defense down to 32%. So roughly one small purple insp away from soft cap, which let's the build fit in lots of procs and the following melee character powers: Boxing Kick Cross Punch Knockout Blow Spring Attack Provoke So very much like Shield Defense melee character but on a MM, with some team support. Then if that's still not enough melee attacks you still have Sands of Mu - Free Patron Power And basic Brawl (which oddly w/Kinetic Combat chance for knockdown seems glitched and at least on MM appears to have near 100% chance to proc ) This was a concept build, so I was surprised when it performed really well and was extremely fun to play. I like to test my builds on Solo ITFs and this one finished +2/+8 without needing temp powers. But I will say not having a proced out ranged hold to shut down and take out Surgeons/Sappers was annoying, so I would probably give up something up to fit 'Time Stop' into the build. Here's the Build: PS If anyone is interested I have some other versions that are more optimized but give up some melee attacks or Spring Attack...

Cool that we go this mechanic, but I wish the game more transparently displayed Absorb numbers. Since it feel like Absorb was somewhat quickly "grafted on" to the game. Maybe what's going on is the numerical value is correct, but that game is using existing HP bar, and has no new way to display Absorb. So it can only visually display Absorb of equal to your HP....regardless of how much you have. Seems like it would be tricky to test since I so far have not found Absorb listed in combat logs...