Raikao

Oh god that last part. I have to check but boosting Expedient Reforces Acc/Dmg instead of using a Nucleus makes sense then, since I don't care about loosing the 2piece setbonus. Well time to remake all of my builds. This gives me a lot to think about for slotting efficiency. Same for always boosting PvP sets and purples.

So I always use catalyzed enhancements. What exactly is the difference to using +5 set IOs? Do those stop working when you exemplare below 50? I made an /EA alt for farming and just needed a little more XP to get to 50 after boosting it, so I did a quick mission and forgot I still had the difficulty set to +1/8 or maybe even +2. And I got through that mission with only 70% complete slotting. Mostly I ws just impressed by how strong the circuit spam can be. So I'm considering Necro/EA now as well which is how I got here. But yeah, why use +5 set IOs over catalyzed set IOs?

Well kudos it's honestly well put together. Personally I wouldn't slot Brawl, but I guess you value slow resist that much. I'm not sure why. I usually use a Winter's Gift: Slow resist and that's it. Tactics I would put 2 cytos if you don't use a set bonus there. Victory Rush is the only odd pick. Does that do anything? When do you even use it, when a Lt. dies or after a Boss dies as a buff for the next pack you engage? Is the accuracy on the pets enough? That is something I'm always struggleing with. I just can't find information anywhere on how much Hit you actually need in total. I'll drop my Thugs/Cold here to maybe give inspiration for slotting the pets. Fry-FaceV2 Mastermind (Thugs - Cold Domination).mbd

I'll post one version with Group Fly and one without (for PowerBoosting +7.15% more defense). I'm still testing both to see which I like more. Might make this a full guide, but it's mostly for sharing the build right now :) DarksynthV18.5 - Mastermind Robotics - Time Manipulation.mbdDarksynthV18 - Mastermind Robotics - Time Manipulation.mbd

Thanks, that clears it up a little bit. I've experimented with Group Fly and I'm still unsure about it. When trying to skip packs in open areas it's kind of great and there is always that one encounter where you can cheese with flying above the enemies. But I need to be close for Time's Juncture so I'm always torn on staying up or next to mobs. I might also just play it a little bit wrong. It seems like the idea would be to be in Bodyguard mode and stand inside the pack, with the pets a little outside of them. But then how do I keep aggro? Even with using Photon Grenade and /time skills I often feel like I need to stay near my bots to spam Temporal Healing. I swapped out Devastation for Sudden Acceleration in Pulse Rifle Blast, that makes quite a bit of sense if I value the knockdown more than the little damage. And the right way to get damage would be using procs, but I need the recharge set bonus there. Ragnarok seems like a better choice than Annihilation for Photon Grenade so I did keep that. Time Stop has less recharge than Poison Trap, but I'll try Entomb in it (or maybe put Entomb in Distortion Field since I always have that up). I always look at Bots/Traps and then realize I like Bots/Time a little more. I really wish they would reverse the -regen change on Bots though. Since it straight up nerfed every secondary except Traps where you already have -1000% and don't care if you have more or less from the primary. Just feels weird.

Do double Golgi on Necromancy, since the End reduction works on pets for whatever arcane reason. Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration is nice if you can spare a third slot.

Well I am, just not with /pain. Linadriel V4 Mastermind (Necromancy - Force Field).mbd Wish I had more slots though, that's the main problem when building this. But it's a bit offtopic from how to build /pain. Have you run this build against hard content?

Thanks! Now overall that build has some really terrible slotting but even in this case there are things to ponder about. For example: You have Group Flight, does that work well with /traps? I haven't tested this but assumed you can't really put down anything in mid-air. Is the Entomb +Absorb noticable in fights? I have mutliple builds where I could put that in instead of a damage proc, but I wonder how strong that one absorb proc is in general gameplay.

I get that you emphasize resistances and healing, which does go well together. I just think the gaps in certain resist means your minions fall over against certain AVs. But I don't know either way. It was just an observation at first glance. "Soul Extraction should be slotted with a pet set for the recharge." <- what does that mean? I have no idea what you're trying to say here. I have 94% recharge slotted, so what do you mean here? I don't see the value in going for personal defense on a resist secondary. You're not softcapped anyway. But as I said, I might not get /Pain, I usually play defensive oriented sets. I shelved my Necro/Nature for a Necro/FF for that reason. The 75% resistance from Bodyguard is calculated after the MMs resist as far as I know. Otherwise resist secondaries and pool powers would be literal dogshit.

2 pages and no one else posts a build. It boggles my mind how so many are ...hoarding information? I dunno. I don't get it. Just post your builds so one can have something to compare or take inspiration from.

So I dabbled with Mercs/Nature a bit. Mostly because I want to make /Nature work somewhere and Mercs primary attacks are good for +recharge procs. So Serum, Overgwoth, Wild Bastion are easy to keep up permanently. + really high resistances, s/l capped on MM and the Mercs + really high healing + absorb - low def means getting debuffed really easily - mercs shred defense, nature gives +ToHit which might be "too much" Any input is welcome. Maybe I can leverage Nature better with another primary. AlmaV2 Mastermind (Mercs - Nature).mbd

Yeah it's a bit annoying to be honest. In my current build I just had to swap an Endurance into Protector Bots so they don't keep running out of endurance all the time :/ Certainly feels like Necro got some "bonus" effects with the last update. I'd assume it's the +HP they get, which not only has them benefit from healset procs permanently but also from endurance reduction which imho is a bug but I wont light up a torch about it, since it does fit thematically. Restless Undead and all that. I only hope this will make the devs do another pass and lower endurance cost of skills on the robots a little. I'll drop my Robots/Time build here, mostly for pet slots to give OP an idea how to go about it. For Maintenance Drone I'd suggest either slotting one +5 Heal IO or full preventive medicine (if you have the slots and no other healing power) You don't need recharge imho, since you can pre-cast / renew the Drone at any time and with some cooldown reduction (and you have at least 30% "for free" as MM) it's up often enough I feel. DarksynthV14 - Mastermind Robotics - Time Manipulation.mbd

I'd suggest saving the build and then just drag and drop that build file into here as an attachment.

Have a version with Soul Mastery as well. I might go with this one myself. BabayagaV1.5 with SoulMastery Mastermind (Demons - Dark).mbd

Some really inefficient socketing in a few places. Command of the Mastermind belongs in Hell on Earth for starters. If you only 3 slot Tactics, then use 2 Cytos and a Gauss BuildUp. Tar Patch and Darkest Night are 2 slot wonders with the right HamiOs. Most importantly you don't need Tough/Weave on Demons/Dark imho. You would on Thugs/Dark and others, but Demons give you resist with their shield, so you can build it differently. I'm still trying to get the last 2% s/l resistance to get to cap but I like where it is so far. BabayagaV1 Mastermind (Demons - Dark).mbd