Wintervoid

I want Grant Invisibility to be like all the other short term buffs and be an AoE buff.

Were the team sizes different?

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say Beast/Kin is top tier, I am just saying that they can self softcap w/ Fortify Pack which opens up some other avenues for secondaries if your goal is softcapping. I just think with Kin it makes the most sense, not because of the recharge, but because of the added damage. I have not tested out numbers, but I take your word that they are lower DPS (and a more resisted type of damage as well) but my thoughts are that a Beast at or near damage cap with Fulcrum Shift is probably still out damaging any other Henchman that is not Kin. Other sets can get more damage out of Kin, but they will not be as durable as Beasts that have Fortify as an option. I guess all I am saying is beasts are viable, and with Fortify, they have some different options not available in other sets. Good info on Demons. Thanks

Looks like this is unslotted Fortify. Should be about 6% higher with Defense slotted, and another 4% with slotted maneuvers. I pretty much agree with your points, but IMO, Beasts shine with Kin. The downside of Kin for Masterminds is that it doesn't provide much in the way of defense, but with near perma fortify the pack, defense is taken care of by the primary. As a matter of fact, Kin gives + recharge which helps get you to Perma Fortify the pack. So, with kin you can have softcapped defense AND 300% damage boost (Is that the cap for pets? When I have checked my pets they don't seem to go above that even with tons of stacks of Fulcrum shift) Granted, the Defense is not capped all the time, but you have heals to help fill in the gaps (And Lion Roars, but I don't count on those). I don't think you can achieve that with any other combo solo. Currently playing at 41. Right now I am working on my own personal defenses because me dying from drawing aggro is a much bigger problem then my Pets getting wiped. I am only on +1/5 though, so it goes to your point of pushing difficulty. I do want to get Powerboost at 44 before I push up the difficulty to +2, and I am not expecting to solo AVs because the gap in the perma fortify (Waiting for stacks) and not enough -regen. The overall experience is similar to Brute playstyle as far as rush, rush rush to keep up damage.

Quick notes on Fortify the pack. The defense is 5% + 1% per stack of Fortify the Pack. When you have all your pets, 4 stacks is pretty easy to get, so I generally use that number to estimate effectiveness. At 4 stacks you get 9% defense. Slotted it gives you about 14.4%. Add Power Boost and you should be at 23.4% (I do not have Powerboost yet, so not tested by me) Base Defense is 12.5% at 50. IOs add 10% Maneuvers add 4% So, at 4 stacks you get 40.9% defense. Power Boosted you get 49.9% Defense. At 0 Stacks you get 12.8% power boosted, or a total of 39.3%, and you can Perma that with enough recharge. In addition to this, each Lion has a Roar that gives the pets 6% defense for 15 seconds every 60 seconds. Add to that the fact that your pets also get some resists and self heals, and I think they are fairly durable.

Any input on Domination + World of Confusion? Building the same sets, and I thought that could be a great combo, but only 24 now. (On a side note, last team I joined had this same combo as well...but not World of Confusion yet.)

So, played a bit this weekend and now at 39. Running +1/4 pretty comfortably, although I do hit an occasional problem when I get cocky. I did test and they get no recharge benefit from speed boost. I figured what I read was correct, but only took a few minutes to test. Since we are running i25, figured it wouldn't hurt to make sure there were no stealth changes. With Fulcrum Shift, things really are melting. Still mostly single target, but each target goes down fast. As far as defense, I am feeling pretty good. If there is no boss, they survive pretty well with just Transfusion. Vs a Boss, I send in and wait about 5 seconds and then trigger Fortify, which will generally be 4-5 stacks by then. I have tested vs Purple bosses, and I can mostly just stand back with an occasional Transference, but for the most part, with Fortify at 5ish stacks, Maneuvers and 2 +5 Defense IO, they are pretty hardy. I think that puts them at 12% innate, 17% Fortify, 3% Maneuvers and 10% I/O puts them near cap w/o Powerboost. If a Lion roars, they are at cap (Lions give 6% Def for 15 seconds every minutes) I do often lose 1 T3 wolf from the boss if they have a strong single target attack before Fortify though. Add in the natural resistances and added resistance Increase density adds (and 1 10% resistance I/O) and they are more durable then my Necro/Cold zombies. When I do die, it is generally because I have gotten aggro and not dealt with it correctly. I am also poor at ambushes, but both of those issues are because I rarely play in bodyguard mode and am slow to react and/or take myself out of bodyguard inadvertently because I am so used to directing attacks. I also tried some grouping, and it went well, but with Kin, I would expect no less. Pets generally stay out of the way, but speed boosted wolves pulling a second group is a real concern. This is a VERY active character. I am always doing something, and with Transference and personal attacks, I don't have the excuse of being out of end. (As far as personal attacks, I just have the Hawk and the one from Sorcery. Adds some DPS, but also the Hawk brings down most flyers and the Sorcery one is required for the Mez protection. I may drop Hawk at some point. I had the AoE, but I found it drew too much aggro.)

The best Mitigation is near Perma Fortify. As stated above, you need stacks to do it, but you can get 4 stacks pretty quickly into battle...but that means you have taken an Alpha. I am still playing around with it, but I am thinking/hoping there will be a way to make it work consistently. Another side note, when I Speed Boost the pets, on their combat tab it does show they have 50% recharge. I am guessing it is just a UI error, but I will test it out sometime to see if it actually is working. I assume not, but should be pretty easy to test. It has been years since I played a MM, so it is hard to compare to my previous MMs. The only other comparable MM I have now is a 36 Necro/Cold, and I think the Beast/Kin is more survivable. (In a big part due to the heal spam and/or when they are under Fortify)

I believe that you cannot slot both the regular and Superior versions of the Command of the Mastermind ATO +Def enhancement at the same time. Even if you could, those are AoE defense only, so... I actually noticed the AOE aspect after I posted, and TBH, I am kinda glad. It brings more value back to Fortify. As far as slotting both, I had read that you could, but I was skeptical. Currently playing at +1/4 and cruising. I tried +2/3 but had some issues vs CoT and face planted a few times before being a bit more cautious. I was able to keep everything alive pretty easily under a 6-7 stack of Fortify, but I don't have enough recharge to have that up every fight (And you need a bit to build the stacks first)

Playing one now and at 36. I started it because I wanted to see what a Perma/Power Boosted Fortify the Pack would be like. So, let me address that first. Fortify the Pack gives your pets 5% defense + 1% per stack of pack mentality. At low levels, you will have 2-4 stacks normally, after 32 it is not that tough to reach 7-8+. Lets say you get 4 stacks normally. That is 10% def. Slotted is 16%. Boosted that is about 24% (Someone correct my numbers if wrong). Add that to the base defense (10-12.5% depending on level) and you are most the way to being capped. Add 4% from Maneuvers(slotted). Add the two 5% I/Os and your are capped (Or near capped w/o Power Boost). With all that said, you can hit cap at 50 with both ATIO (+15% & +10%) and the two regular IO (Both +5%) w.o Fortify. In the end, I see it basically being used similar like it is now, a panic button for when you start go get cascading failures on defense and/or vs high +to hit mobs. Useful, but not as needed as I originally thought. Okay, as far as how it plays.....it plays like all Kin...fast. The damage is pretty good, and since all your pets are (mostly) melee, you can gather them for buffs/heals mid combat by selecting a target for them. That is useful in a fast paced combat. With Speed Boost, they get there fast. Another thing that is different then most MM's is I took the personal attacks. Early on I used the single target attack fairly often, and the AoE sparingly. I recently speced out of the AoE strictly because of time cnstraints and aggro management as I turn up the group sizes. The reason attacks are better here then many other MM's is because the can add stacks of Pack mentality (not guaranteed) and that with Siphon Power, your attacks hit a bit harder. I figure if I am not draining my end, I am leaving damage on the table. I skipped Repel and Inertial Reduction, and power pools I took so far are Sorcery (just speced into the Fly and single target attack to get the status protection on the 3rd power), Maneuvers and tactics and of course Hasten. The only time the set felt a bit weak was at 21 as I had not had anything slotted. From 22 on it has been a powerhouse, and one of my favorite MM's. It is very active.