bellona100

Nature is such a beast at keeping health bars full that the Maintenance Drone is not needed. You can make an argument that the Drone helps with damage mitigation, but for healing on this build - no. My math has the henchmen at 27% Def on typed, and 32% AoE Def. Couple this Def with the -ToHit from Spore Cloud and maybe Photon Grenade, and all the buffs. The henchmen survivability is high. When using Photon Grenade, think of it as a debuff and AoE stun. The damage is negligible. Don't listen to the Group Fly Nazis, Group Fly is awesome on a MM. Evasive Maneuvers tightens up the flying nicely and gives a host of benefits to the actual MM. Teleport Target on a MM is very useful. You can use it to pull from a mob, TP a henchmen from terrain, and recall a teammate. Knockout Blow is for any baddie who gets up in your face. It's also the least needed power in the build. It can be replaced with SS, Maintenance Drone, Rebirth, etc. Equip Robot: 3 of the 4 slots are for the actual MM. The Alpha slot for this build increases Heal by 45%, ACC & End Red by 33%. I chose this Alpha because 6 powers can use the Heal bonus. Hasten and the high global recharge are there to reduce the wait time between buffs. Overgrowth & the Aplha remove the need for Tactics. When you approach a mob: buff, debuff the mob, and then use attacks. Heal as needed. Good luck with the build and have fun. Oh, one more thing - go Eagles! Robot.Nature.mxd

Alessio, what will you be using the character for - mostly? Do you mind putting influence into the character, or are ya on a budget? Do you like the powerset attacks of Robotics/ or would you rather just support the henchmen and team? How do you like to travel in missions, or do you have no preference? For easy reference, here are the Oct 18th ,2022 patch notes concerning Robotics/. Robotics Pulse Rifle Blast, Pulse Rifle Burst, and Photon Grenade These powers all now apply a -200% regeneration debuff Pulse Rifle Blast cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1s Pulse Rifle Burst cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1.1s Repair (now Maintenance Drone) Power has been replaced by Maintenance Drone. Maintenance Drone will use its own health to heal your other robots. It can't be healed and does not regenerate HP. Once it depletes its health, it will self destruct dealing minor damage. This power no longer accepts Endurance Modification enhancements or sets. Equip Robot Now grants passive resistances to henchmen. Can be enhanced by slotting the power with resistance sets and enhancements. Upgrade Robot Now grants Repair to Protector Bots Can be enhanced by slotting the power with Healing sets and enhancements. Henchmen Cast Times trimmed across the board (including personal attacks) Assault Bot no longer applies -regen, this effect is now applied by the Mastermind personal attacks. Henchmen have had their list of powers revamped, adding a few new powers to improve overall damage. Protector Bots summon power no longer accept heal enhancements. Henchmen no longer have resistances out of the box, Equip Robot is needed to get them.

The following build takes the -ToHit debuffs of /Dark and couples it with +Def of the Mercs & actual Mastermind. In other words, the baddies will have trouble hitting you and your henchmen. So, when you approach a mob, you debuff 'em with Darkest Night & Fearsome Stare. That will be enough debuffs on mobs around your level. For the purple-lettered baddies I would use the Dark Servant on them as well. After you debuff, you can then have fun destroying the mob with your other attacks. I'm not sure how you like to travel around the map/mission with your henchmen, so move the slots around for either Speed of Sound & Teleport, or Hover & Teleport. Mind you that Hover gives you a little more +Def to all. Don't forget to keep clicking Serum to buff your henchmen. Good luck with this powerful combo and don't mind the thumbs down on this post, I have some folks that like to harass me on here. Edit: Other than the 1st enhancement, the slots in Equip Mercenary apply to the actual mastermind. This is to help with the duration of mezzes applied to the mastermind. Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Powerset Revamps Mercenaries Burst, Slug, and M30 Grenade Each of these attacks applies a Focused Fire tag on the target for 30s. Each power's tag will increase Mercenary ranged damage by 3.33%, up to a maximum of 10%. Equip Mercenary Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade. Equip Mercenary now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements. By slotting this power with resistance enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive resistances. Tactical Upgrade This power now grants henchmen passive Ranged and AoE defenses. Now accepts Defense sets and enhancements, will boost henchmen defenses. By slotting this power with defense enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive defenses. Serum Power can now only be activated when targeting a mercenary, can no longer be accidentally wasted by targeting a different pet like Dark Servant Power now buffs all henchmen (animation only plays on main target). Recharge reduced from 1000 seconds to 250 seconds. Power no longer has a crash. The power now grants strong defensive and offensive buffs that slowly decay over a one minute window. Henchmen Their entire power repertoire revamped. Powers have been added, adjusted, and replaced. Merc.Dark-OctoKnight.mxd

I'm happy to help out. What I posted is tested and sound. We both know that you will be slotting your Necro/ with what I posted above. Good luck with the Nature Affinity side of the build.

Sounds like you're trying to fit 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound bag. I advise dropping the Sorcery Pool all-together. Mystic Flight is such a sloppy way to travel and you don't need RoP with proper slotting and set-bonuses. So, it's been established that you should take the 3 Necro attacks. You can slot the native slot with a +ACC at 53% enhancement of the power and be done with it. Or, you can slot the attacks out with damage/defuff procs and try for set-bonuses. My thinking is: if you're going to bother clicking the attacks, why not do some damage/debuffing also? I remember when slotting the Lich, I seriously considered enhancing the mezzes of the guy. I came to the conclusion that his base time of the mezzes was good enough. In the partial build below, I would take out Dark Watcher's Despair from Dark Blast. This proc was placed for PvP. Note that in Gloom, I didn't go with any damage procs. I was chasing set-bonuses. Bazooka don't know.mxd

Thanks all for your feefback. Several good points are made. I suspect many of you will quietly respec your builds with my slotting in mind.

Sir Myshkin, no need to thank me. I try my best to help out the newer players to the class. Now, addressing the quote above. You're going to want to redo your math on the AoE Def of the Mercs. That Superior Command +AoE Def goes wonderfully with the overall Defensive nature of the build. Good catch on the Lady Grey not being the best choice of damage procs for Commando. In my updated rework of your build, I placed it back in Spec Ops. This placement came at the cost of removing more +Res from the henchmen. So, in total, I removed 20% Res from the henchmen. Usually, I would balk at this much Resistance, but considering how much +Def the build has and the availability of Serum - I think the henchmen will be just fine. Its gonna be awesome though having Soulbound Allegiance firing off and the Lady Grey proc'ing for the Spec Ops! Damn, that makes me feel good. So, when do you plan on resecing into this rework of mine? I think you'll see some big improvement in your gameplay. Merc.Cold-Sir Myshkin.mxd

I've looked at 5 or 6 builds posted on this forum. These are all PvE builds. Each build has Chrono Shift slotted incorrectly. The posters of these builds took the best team buff in the set and failed with its slotting. One poster placed a full set of Preemptive Optimization and totally ignored the Heal portion of the power. Thats like taking the wheels off your car and using it as a covered seat in the driveway. I'm going ahead and giving the community two proper ways to slot this fantastic team buff. Click Active Slotting: in the lower left hand corner of Mids' to get both versions. Chrono Shift done right - MM.mxd

Thanks for responding to my question about the power Insulating Circuit. From reading your description about the Merc/Cold build you provided, I can see what you're trying to do with the character. It's amazing how a few sentences accompanying a build can explain so much. I like how you used Force Feedback in the power M30 Grenade. I found this clever how you achieved greater +Rech by spamming the power. I took the build you posted and updated, upgraded, and unfucked it. The updated build should be easier to play all-around. I removed Mystic Flight, Enflame, Rune of Protection, and Soul Storm. To be brief: Mystic Flight is a sloppy way to travel, Enflame is an ineffective power, RoP is not needed with my updated build, and Soul Storm has a slow recharge. I also added ACC to several powers so that they actually hit the intended targets. This is very important. I also +5'ed many enhancements and reworked Commando. You'll see that several stats are improved and Endurance usage from toggles is greatly reduced so that the attacks can be used. The cost of doing all this is that I removed some +Resistance from the actual MM, and 10% Resistance from the henchmen. Merc.Cold-Sir Myshkin.mxd

What will you be using the character for - mostly? Do you mind putting influence into the character, or are ya on a budget? Do you like the powerset attacks of Mercs or would you rather just support the henchmen? Are you ok with having only 134.3% ACC in Spec Ops? Mind you, these are henchmen that spawn -1 level to the actual MM.

In my opinion, next to Faraday Cage, Rejuvenating Circuit is the best support power for your Mercs/team. You did yourself a disservice by skipping it. With Insulating Circuit having a duration of 30 seconds, how do folks keep this buff on their Mercs? Is it something that can be placed on Auto? I skipped IC myself - when leveling, but am curious as to how folks keep this buff up.

Bazooka, I luv that you're thinking outside of the box. We need more of this approach in the game and especially on these forums. I think that the /Force Field secondary is what you're looking for. The only other idea I have is that you create a second account and play a Brute on your primary account. In other words, play the Brute as your main, and then have the /Force Field MM follow you around. You have more options this way.

Of course it does. Worry about all that after ya hit level 50 - if ya hit 50 with this guy. Also, I recommend following this player StrikerFox. He plays /Storms quite a bit and actually goes on the Test server and toys around with 'em. I also recommend you only take the builds players post on these forums as "what I'm doing" and not sage advice. There are quite a few players on these forums that throw up a build that they played a year ago and tell ya that it rocks. When in fact the build lacks in many ways. Take Doc's build here for instance. I know very little about /Storms and yet I found 3 slots that are either wasted or of little use. On these forums, always consider the source.

This is looks to be a good build. I've never played /Storm, but from what I see, Doc is on point here. I know Doc cherishes my input on his builds, so I'll make 3 suggestions on how to improve an already solid build. First, you don't need 17 KB Protection for PvE. Take out that Steadfast slot in Dark Embrace and place the slot elsewhere. Second, with your Demon Prince, remove the Unbreakable Constraint proc. The prince has 7 attacks he uses. Only 1 is a Hold, so the proc can only go off when he uses that 1 attack. Ok, he does like to open with this Hold attack, but its not worth a proc slot. Third, in regard to the power Stamina. You're wasting that 3rd slot - that's all I'm saying about that. Oh, and whats the deal with Hurricane? Is that a power actively used or is it situational? I don't understand what is going on with the slotting.

Hello StrikerFox, May I ask how you slot the Merc power Serum? Allowed Enh Set Categories: Res damage, End Mod, and ToHit Buff. I have it slotted for Res & Recharge. But I can't help wondering if adding a slot for +Recovery might be a good idea. Without enhancement, the Recovery Rate of the Mercs is doubled with Serum. This too decays over the space of a minute.

This is NOT a +Def build. This is a PvP build. I'm posting this thing to give ya some ideas on slotting. As you can see, I'm going for +Range, +HP, +Rech, +Recovery, and +Regen, via set bonuses and Uniques. I'm not ignoring +Def here, I'm just not shooting for it. Additionally, If I was to change one thing on this build, I would place a Theft of Essence: Chance for +End in Twilight Grasp. I would place this Theft of Essence in place of the Touch of the Nictus proc. As you can imagine, I run into End problems with this build when hit with -End attacks. Its more the 6 toggles I run more than anything else. Every proc has been tested and confirmed working in RV. I know some of the Unique placements seem odd, but they all cater towards my needs. I think that a Def build coupled with the -ToHit of all the attacks would absolutely rock in PVE. But as with all Defensive builds, you would have to gimp yourself in other areas in order to achieve good Defensive numbers. Merry Christmas. Edit: I placed the Theft of Essence in Twilight Grasp and have noticed a big difference in my Endurance bar. I am now using Twilight Grasp to fill my Endurance and health. Not to mention the debuffs it casts. Necro.Dark dueler2.mxd

Before I comment on anything, let me say that I don't do Defensive builds for PvE. An AoE heal on an MM is very powerful - regardless of the game content you are doing. I suggest 6-slotting Twilight Grasp to get that heal up to ~100%. I like that Theft of Essence: Chance for +End you placed in there and regret not doing the same in my build. How does your Alpha(+Rech) slot affect the proc rate on this Theft of Essence? Does it still activate at 3.5 PPM? I'm positive you can improve the slotting on Twilight Grasp. You're missing the Expedient Reinforcement: Resist Aura for Pets. I would slot this Unique into the build and take out the Resist IO in Enchant Undead. I would then use this slot in Enchant Undead and place an Aegis: Psi/Status Res. Doing so will help with the Mezzing you are - most likely - experiencing. Concerning Soul Extraction. Is that Overwhelming Force: DAM/Chance for Knockdown as good or better than the effect from Cloud Senses? I see several folks on the forums slotting that Overwhelming Force like its OP or something. I don't get it.

I don't think anyone expects the Specters to be damage dealers. Thats just nonsense. The Specters are like a scaled down Gang War. They help mitigate damage away from the henchmen, MM, and other pets via a strong Taunt. The attacks can be slotted with damage procs to add some punch. In my opinion, if you're going to spend the time using the attacks, might as well get something out of them besides the Specter pets. WumpusRat does make a very good point here. It's mixed in with all the negative vomit, but its there nontheless. The combination of Necro and Rad will create a set that is Endurance hungry. The set creates a scenario where the MM can debuff, heal, attack, mez, and summon. This is a lot of clicking that uses a lot of End. I recommend making Endurance management a top priority in the build. For example, make a Miracle: +Recovery at level 20 and slot it early. Make a Panacea: +Hit Points/End at level 10 and slot it early.

I consider /Rad on a MM to be in the top 3 of Secondaries. It is absolutely excellent at debuffing single targets. I also think it is a very good all-around Secondary. You have a PBAoE heal. The AM buff which helps with mez, +Recovery, etc. Three nasty debuffs. And a PBAoE Hold for mobs, or when used on a single target provides -End and -Regen. I recommend slotting Radiation Infection for -ToHit and End Reduction. Enervating Field with End Reduction. And Lingering Radiation with +Recharge. I have my LR slotted with 6 D-syncs. I've played /Rad extensively in PvP and have enjoyed the versatility and extensive debuffing it provides. Necro is crazy fun with the new changes. You have to be careful though with the slotting of enhancements. The Primary has changed considerably and to slot properly, you need to know the nuts and bolts of how things work. For example, you want to take the 3 attacks. They each can spawn pets that have a powerful taunt.

Dark Blast, Gloom, Life Drain Yes, have all 3 attacks. Now, you don't have to slot any of 'em. Just clicking them will give you the 70% chance to spawn the Specters. But, just slotting the given enhancement slot with a +5 ACC IO will bring ya to 53% ACC, which is good enough for the Specters. What these pets are good for, no..., great for is tanking a target. They have a Taunt affect on the target. Its a powerful Taunt that lasts 6 seconds. The other line of thinking is that since your're going to be spending the time clicking the 3 attacks, why not place some meaningful enhancements in them? This choice is yours my friend.

I'm interpreting this as you are having drawn-out battles with NPCs/Bosses/GMs, etc and would like to keep the End of your henchmen up. To this I have 2 suggestions. 1) The holiday Present inspirations. The ones that drop during the Winter Event. Provide 50.00 endurance to all within 20' of caster. Its an AoE inspiration that affects up to 16 allies. To know what Present inspiration provides what buff, place a bunch in your base's Inspiration storage. You will see that the storage unit groups the Presents by buff. For example, the 1st group of Presents is +50% HP. I believe the order of the Presents on the market is organized in the same manner. I just checked, you want the 3rd group of Presents down from the top. 2) Create another account. On this account make a Necro/Kin with Speed Boost selected. Team with this MM and place him on 'Follow' with the Speed Boost power on auto. You can also make an Illusion/Kin Controller and keep the stealth powers on. The MM will give you twice the henchmen, but will be more of a hassle to tote around. Its your call here on which AT to go with. Back on Live we called these 'Pocket Kins'.

I cry a little inside when I see a Mastermind flopping around in RV, making a fool of my beloved AT. It frustrates me. Not a lot, but enough to copy and paste from a guide I made while the game was live. I'm going to update some of the rules best I can, but some of the rules simply don't apply to today's PvP. 11-10-2011, 12:29 PM #196 LIinfinity Apprentice Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Freedom PvP zone Posts: 156 Re: Mastermind Guides and FAQs Below are the 6 Preparation rules for taking a Mastermind into RV The following 6 Golden rules enable a MM to be 'well played' Quote: Heavies — your new best friends Overview: Each side has at its command 3 Heavy Class robots that can be utilized as pets. The locations can be found on the OPS map in your starting base. Think of these as the tanks of this particular battlefield. As far as firepower and the amount of damage taken, a Heavy can go head-to-head with 4 elite bosses and emerge victorious most of the time. A Heavy can take out most players in three shots, and are not to be ignored. These Robots can be used by any class, and work exactly like a mastermind pet; remember that these are slow movers, so if super speed is your thing, you will have to wait a while for it to catch up with you. To acquire a Heavy, locate a platform and click on the control panel. If there is no Robot on the platform, someone has already taken it. A Heavy will re-spawn on its platform only after it or its controller has been defeated, or it has been dismissed. Be careful not to camp the spot too much waiting for one to appear, as these areas will no doubt be camped by the enemy after they discover them. Tactics: Heavies are very good at helping. One of the best uses for Heavies is to capture pillboxes. A single player with a Heavy can defeat the turrets of an undefended pillbox fairly quickly, without too much risk. If attacking a defended pillbox, set the Heavy to take down the turrets or send it straight at the pill box controller to help draw fire away from you as you attack. When attacking players, each heavy has special attacks particular to it. The Freedom Corps Cataphract has excellent medium and long range AoE capabilities, where the Arachnos Blaster has great medium range hold attacks and is extremely dangerous in hand to hand combat; and is no slouch at long range. The best thing to take out a Heavy is another Heavy. If you are I.D.’d as the controller of the Heavy (and your name does show up on its target bar) the enemy will be looking to take you out as quickly as they can, so make sure that you are in a position such that you cannot be easily spotted, or if in the open, that you are properly defended by your team. If you have a team set up, make sure the person with the best chance of survivability has control of robot. -Taken from Tips and Stratagems, Recluse's Victory By Thomas Foss (aka Archon Voss) — Senior Staff Designer & Zone Director Quote: Core Powers: Bodyguard This is accessed by setting any henchman to Follow/Stay/Goto and Defensive. When set to Bodyguard mode, the Mastermind and his Henchmen share damage from any attack that the Mastermind takes damage from, after the MM's personal resistances are applied. Each Henchman takes one “Share” of the damage, and the Mastermind himself takes 2 “Shares”. This is in addition to any damage that the Henchmen themselves might incur from Area attacks. The resistance/defense of the henchmen is not applied to this damage and instead goes straight against their hitpoint total. Example 1: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with (after resistance is factored) a 100 point attack, each Henchman will take 20 points of damage, and he himself will take 40 points. (total of 100 points of damage). Example 2: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with (after resistance is factored) an Area Effect attack for 10 points of damage, then each Henchman will take 2 points of damage, and he himself will take 4 points. Henchmen that were also in the Area of Effect will take an additional 10 points each. Bodyguard will work as long as a Henchman is in Defensive Follow or Defensive Stay/Goto. This means that they will attack back when you or they are attacked. Issuing an order of “Attack my target” will take them out of bodyguard mode, as will issuing any other stance. You can set as many of your Henchmen to bodyguard that you want. As long as the Henchman is in Defensive Follow/Stay/Goto and within Supremacy range, he is in Bodyguard mode. Status effects will not turn off bodyguard mode. Bodyguard does not function with Lore Incarnate henchmen. -Taken from MZ's Guide to the Modern Mastermind v4.5(@Master Zaprobo)

I thought you were trolling our beloved CoH forums with that build! I apologize. Please read this portion of the Oct. 18, 2022 patch notes to get you up to speed with the current Necro/Dark workings. Necromancy Dark Blast, Gloom, Life Drain These powers now have a 70% chance to summon a Spectral Minion to your side! These Specters are temporary, lasting a maximum of 90 seconds as their health fades away by the second. These Specters cannot be healed or regenerate, but have decent resistance to all damage and defense against AoE attacks. These Specters cannot be commanded or upgraded, but slotting your personal attacks will improve their attack stats. Each attack can only summon one Specter, for a maximum of 3 if all attacks are used. Henchmen (general) Powers have been adjusted for area and duration. Zombie Horde Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Grave Knights Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Lich Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Enchant Undead Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade. Enhant Undead now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements. Lich's Petrifying Gaze has been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Life Drain to the Lich. Resistances now grant mag 1 Hold and Immobilize protection, as well as 50% resistance to Stun/Hold/Immobilize. Dark Empowerment Now accepts Healing sets and enhancements. Lich's Life Drain have been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Petrifying Gaze to the Lich. Slotting this power with heal enhancements will enhance Life Drain's heal. Dark Empowerment range increased from 30' to 50'. Grants a 15% max HP (half enhanceable) to all henchmen. Soul Extraction Recharge lowered form 600s to 150s. End cost lowered from 30 to 15. Only works on active Henchmen, not Specters. Will extract the soul from each Henchman for 30s before the Souls vanish. The extracted souls are still linked to their bodily hosts, if the host of a soul is defeated, the soul will also be defeated. Extracted Souls No longer use Phase Shift Now have 13% positional defenses, not enhanceable.

Harakh, you nailed it with the slotting on SE. And with 2 damage Procs! Your henchmen with SE would out-damage mine, no doubt. I have too much ACC slotted into my henchmen, with Tactics running in the background. I can concede that. I wonder how much down-time you would have with your current slotting of SE? It can't be much. Tough to tell with Mids. (Edit: 12.3 sec) My memory is fuzzy on this point, but I recall testing the Shield Breaker proc and not liking the rate at which it triggered compared to Soulbound's Build-up. You might want to test that out yourself. Oh, one more thing, you overlooked placing L50 IOs in your Lich and +5'ing.

I wouldn't mess around with Provoke. Provoke on a MM is just nonsense. Just use Teleport Target to pull something. Teleport Target serves the additional use of tp'ing any stuck henchmen out of terrain. Which will happen, 100%.