bellona100

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%.

Hi Sovereigne, I don't know anything about /Pain, but do play Demon/ quite a bit. The Soulbound proc will activate more in Demons because there are 2 henchmen. A build will get the most benefit from having the Soulbound proc in Demons. Additionally, there is a better way to slot Demon Prince for +DAM. I've attached part of a build for your consideration. You can take the last slot in Demons and place one of the Pet unique in there to adjust Hell on Earth to more your likening. demIIII - Demon.Rad0.mxd

Well, once again, you have enlightened me. I was using Soul Extraction (SE) as a type of Gang War. I was under the premise that the power was more to disrupt the baddies verse actually damaging 'em. With this knowledge I have adjusted SE. I'm still using it as a mule though - well, for the most part. Necro.Dark dueler.mxd

Harakh, thank you for posting your Necro/Elect build! Even though I am currently working on a Necro/Dark MM, I was able to get a really good idea from your build. I would like to return the favor by posting my unfinished Necro/ build in the hopes it gives you something to think about. Please focus on how I slotted Soul Extraction. I use it as a mule to load up the henchmen/pet auras. You know, the +Res, +Def, and +Regen stats that make the henchmen so resilient in battle. The purpose of slotting this way is to free-up the Henchmen slots for more beneficial enhancements. Also, note how I slotted Lich. I think when it comes to the Lich, you can look at 10 seperate builds by 10 different players and get none that match. The Lich is tough to figure out. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1864;796;1592;HEX;| |78DA75545B4F135110FEBA7B2A2E455A4A0B052AD742A140A5687C542248A252831| |1E59218B229051A5B4ADA92C0DFD0C467131FBCA26F6AC293F1124DE44778BF24A8| |0FFA5CA767D8F474493769CF77BE3933F3CD9CD98D6F4ED4EDBE9F1A83C3339E36F| |3F9C5B8992F247399D4DA92336EAEA4123A0063B373226916563B376B68172C1F59| |BCBC91C964D7A21793895C3663AE25B6DA14E3998DE5E5E88499BBBE184F99F98C0| |9EF74369B8ECE24D3C9F56CAE601652D93597A426D3A995D5825BE2A9A4B994CCE5| |5753EBF6BDF7EC7A2A119D4C25D34BFB32B702A467947EF79CF4E780F514693B2F8| |0988086590BBCD22510786D81370C0EE12D832B02EA530AE32F590C3AD2C4E03002| |048E0A84E02E01037DF0123004A2182207A1E3BE531543611CB803E95D87010E538| |F1D0DF009B4E3BB26BD0710D3A488010C71BCABA446578A72E818E4305D88307840| |999CCA1138C926A33C244B8DAAA1C62AA5DED2E0412383012E4E50D4FDE22296863| |9D260280974C3D2E0B18097531A88A19B9D1E516E977A1B2E590B25F0CA80047C18| |D3A4930FE35C76135E70239AB04BA051A097F41F514AA0CD201757BA5BB79AC08D5| |14EDD8A492EA515E7180471814D41781C9269879FC136E96C50C334E01FAD014177| |FA57938DE8C30F62EA05C2F8C8F2C278C781C3F8C0A0488FD62817042A9605D2E95| |72FC18FCF1CB71D5F1974CAFB97E09B05BE30E8C22706774967B33A08CD549EECDE| |10B6B99F8FE9488B9249B460862D3D72AA253849961ABD0C42D6EC955E9136C55B6| |B63FD5DBC847829FD159F50A20E75E23AAC899BF600DD4A104737BB4578B946397A| |D55EF4968B78CA233084673C14C3786E811D9E85614BAA6C763F873C56B148CB600| |5152B5BE8ED2CE3115EE2A2F2AB510CDADE7F49D2C129DB418B9F16952F3A6D24BF| |574BBCA3821FE626FD3A68E967CB6F9B4573E03C6DC3823E395D3C68B5D8D36537F| |E1C3C7B831B568B9BDCCB3ADC6210A952D348153E56853F5E853F518537681C7485| |2F8A66D2A376BBC767236E3712A1BABCECB6113F433697F966DB894BB53662D64EC| |CD989053B712A525952F134112E95188B54BE6EC5FFA8964902| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|[/code] Necro.Dark dueler.mxd

This made me chuckle. Thanks.

I just noticed that you have no ACC slotted in Gloom. I can see that you want to use this power as a proc mule, but if the power can't hit the target - all those procs will never activate. Edit: Your using Gloom to only spawn spectrals. My mistake. Edited again: I would slot a 6th slot in Gloom so that this attack could be used as a traditional attack that procs a bunch. This way, your slotting for the actual attack and the Spectrals. I would slot a +5 ACC enhancement. 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. Additionally, I strongly suggest you slot ACC in Zombie Horde. Oh, my. Those guys spawn 2 levels below you!

Thanks roxin for posting. Because of you I have found that there is a new version of Mids Reborn out. May I ask what your using this Necro/Elect MM for? I ask this because you have a +Perc Rectified Reticle slotted and the only folks that use that are PvPers. And what powers are you looking to Power Boost? I took a gander at your Set bonuses and see that the build has only +8% Recovery with 6 toggles running? I don't have an issue with the toggles, but the low recovery has to cause you problems with End in your gameplay. I can't imagine it won't, but then again, your using Energizing Circuit (EC). I'm thinking that getting rid of Hasten and having EC on auto might be the way to go. Will that be enough +End and will having EC on auto work? IDK. Also, with Soul Extraction, wouldn't you want to slot for +Rech to have it up as much as possible? And you're over the rule of 5 on 15.06 HP bonuses.

09-13-2010, 02:16 PM Mr_Frost Rookie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 281 Re: Mastermind Guides and FAQs Lots of people have made petless MM's. Basically they play like rather weak corruptors or defenders.Aside from the challenge there isn't much point to doing it. I just copied this post from the old CoHs Freedom forums. I am curious to know if these characters are on Homecoming. I say this because I am constantly hearing the adage that anything can work in PvE. Well, I am not so sure about this one.