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I always slot the Soulbound Alliegence Build Up Purple proc in pet powers which spawn 3 pets (the lowest tier). Each of the pets will trigger the proc, and (as it triggers) it helps them hit the higher level mobs more reliably. Obviously for VEAT this advice only applies to Crabs. For my Fortunata / Widow I don't bother with the Patron pet. Those toons move so fast (and are self-defense capped) that the Pet has trouble keeping up. My Bane has the T2 pets, but despite all my build efforts (including Provoke, and AoE) without true MM commands it is extremely difficult to get the pets to focus fire where needed (and thus allow me to keep aggro). My Crab went Mace Mastery for a full suite of Arachnobots. The Patrol Arachnobot Blaster is somewhat better behaved (i.e. stays close to me) and thus stays alive for the entire 3 minutes. I should note that my Crab has perma-hasten and I have timed the recharge of the T2 and T3 Arachnobots to expire shortly before 3 minutes is up. This allows me to monitor how much life I still have on them. The T1 recharge much faster than that. Final thoughts: Ultimately you need to decide what the pet is going to do for you. If you run x1 or x2 content the pet(s) will be focusing fire, so you can run higher (+N) missions. If you are running x8 content, the VEAT pets will essentially be grabbing aggro that you would otherwise have focused on you. Respecs are easy to get, so I encourage you to try different approaches.

I am really curious: what Purple IO recipe were you trying to list? 50 million strikes me as being far too much for any Purple recipe.

According to your sense of morality: What is the correct price to bid?

I have a great appreciation for the Presence pool, even though only three (different) powers from the pool will be useful for most of my toons. My complaint is that in order to get both the final two powers it is necessary to pick up two other powers. If my toons can take aggro, the AoE Provoke is better than some primary/secondary taunts. Alternatively the Pacify works wonders in tough 1-on-1 fights when toons that aren't so tough need a breather. The PBAoE Invoke Panic is a great control for toons in the middle of large groups. Unrelenting is crazy good, especially for characters with high +Recharge. The sad choice is the single-target Intimidate... it isn't terrible when leveling up, but by end game (like many single target immobs) it is generally a waste of slots (and clicks). In addition to the drawback of having to pick 2 of Pacify/Provoke/Intimidate in order to get Invoke Panic and/or Unrelenting, none of the first three power choices offer good IO mules or even particularly great set choices. The lack of good IO choices for the first three powers is one of the reasons I wish we could get a PVP or Purple IO sets for Taunt and Fear which include some sort of proc other than "% Damage". I will say that 5-slotting the Fear sets isn't bad, but the real gem is 6-slotting Preventive Maintenance is Unrelenting. Zepp's suggestion (allowing the 4th pick with only 1 previous power, and the 5th pick with only 2 previous powers) is music to my ears.

My thoughts about Pool powers vary depending on the character I am designing. Often, I am looking for a supplemental power that fits the need or concept. Occasionally I am looking for an extra attack. Many times I'm simply looking for powers to act as mules for IOs. I can't decide what I want (in general) from the pools, but I know what I like when I see it. The only coherent thought I can muster is this: I like that the Pools (including Epic and Patron) offer a 'taste' of other AT power choices to builds that would otherwise (for most characters) not get that taste. A bonus incoherent thought: The biggest outlier (right now) for the power pools is IMO Teleportation. Long Range Teleport had become worthless *before* instant access to SG bases, and Team Teleport would probably more disliked than Group Fly (if possible)... if I ever saw anyone use it. What really makes it an outlier IMO is that the sole PvE power of Teleport Foe is so... (at best, depending on the situation) blah. It has a relatively long animation time (with a To Hit check) with no extra effect whatsoever.

As I wrote, it seems more likely that farming habits have changed. But is there a better point? We have seen the price of yellow salvage going up by a factor of 10x (or more). Salvage is one of the few areas where you can neither make the exact one you want or easily convert into one you want. (I suppose some folks are sitting on loads of Brainstorm Ideas?)

Perhaps ironic, perhaps not... but I didn't opt to take the AoE hold on my Fire Dom until the lvl 50 respec. I agree with the logic presented above, but when I'm running my Dominator through the early Dark Astoria arcs, I will throw out Cinders to shutdown the army of healing Tsoo Sorcerers at the points in my attack chain when I can't out-damage them.

I agree. The ONLY time I missed having actual resistance is when I (foolishly) try to TANK(*) an AV or a GM. My Fortunata can stand being swarmed by groups of Minions, LTs, Bosses and even a couple of Elite Bosses (because of Defense values, Scaling Resistances, and Unrelenting) but against foes with BIG HARD HITS (ehem, Lord Recluse in Ms. Liberty TF) she'll fold. (*) IMO Tanking also includes grabbing and keeping aggro. With the Presence pool and AoE controls my Fortunata can grab a lot of initial aggro, and can rescue a few other squishies that are focusing fire, but I would never consider that Tanking.

If I were trying to understand ebil, while wearing a tin-foil hat: If I remove the tin-foil hat (never ascribe to ebil, that which is adequately explained by farming):

I like the Dominator Orb and Controller Font because they will draw aggro from mobs that I've just immobilized. According to the buff icons, it also looks like they are applying Interface effects as well (but I have not verified). Not the best pets, but they are actually doing something.

I have Suppression 6-slotted with Annihilation, which includes a -Res proc. This wasn't my first choice for this set, but it is what I ended up using.

I will comment on a couple of your early powers for the time being. I avoided all Soldier attacks. I use Longfang, simply because I hate having to run after mobs to make melee attacks to finish them off. My build's big melee attack is the patron Mace attack, but otherwise it is all range for my Crab. The arc of Suppression is wonderful. I have Frenzy, but I really only use it in two cases. The first is when melee mobs are actually around me (this is uncommon because of positioning for range attacks). The second is when I am focusing fire on a ranged Target but something has wandered close enough to be hit by Frenzy when I get a break in the attack chain. My Crab has permahasten and I have made sure that the pet recharge is just under the pet duration. This makes them 'perma' (if they live) but I like having the timer tell me how much time they have left. The main issue my build has is that the positional Defenses are all in the mid 30s

You are very welcome!

I'm curious if the extra Def/Recharge in Mind Link is doing that much for your builds? I don't play against 54 AVs, but for most (incarnate) content I don't even use Mind Link when I am solo. I don't use it to hold Shield Wall, so I am just 3-slotting it: Adjusted Targeting: Recharge and 2x LotG; Def/Global Recharge and Def/Recharge. After those 3 I don't see significant improvements in Recharge time. My slotting has Defense bonus at 31.9%, which translates to +13.19 Defenses. On my build the positionals are the highest with 64.8% Melee, 61.1% Ranged and 54.8% AoE (no Winter Sets used, so AoE could be boosted by 7.5 if desired). I'll also note that I don't use Hasten in this build, and the recharge time for Mind Link is 106 seconds.

I am also annoyed about the limited choices of where to slot MM ATOs. I'm also unhappy that the Tanker ATO only exist for the secondary set, and that the set bonuses aren't particularly exciting for tanks that want to focus on the primary set. Surely something could have been developed to help both Defense and Resistance based tanks? I feel like I'd almost rather have one ATO for each than what the Tanker gets now.

Hami-O's don't buff Recharge in Mind Link for the same reason Hami-O's don't buff the non-boostable attributes of other sets that don't take those specific IOs. That is: the game won't allow a ToHit buff boost (from the same Hami-O) in a set that doesn't take ToHit IOs but does take recharge. Originally this is how Hami-O's worked, but it was not what was intended(tm) and was changed. It is possible to boost the recharge time of Mind Link using the pure Recharge enhancement from Adjusted Targeting. My preferred slotting for Mind Link is attuned 3-slots: Adjusted Targeting: Recharge, LotG:Def/Global Recharge, LotG: Def/Recharge. Any (good to lvl 50) X/Recharge Defense or ToHit used in the third slot will get you almost maximal performance. You can eek out a little more, but Enhancement Diversification eats into the time more than it is worth using a fourth slot. YMMV, but that's all I've ever needed.

A few weeks back I used the second build of my 'Crabbermind'/'Craster' to try out a tanky Bane ('Banky' ?). It has very solid defenses across the board, with middling resistances... but the offense is slower (and feels less effective than) my Energy Melee tanker. The activation times on the mace attacks take longer than the recharge times, even without Hasten! It literally feels like the toon is simply standing around waiting to make attacks. This makes it very boring to play a mace-based Bane. I can tolerate having a tank that doesn't do so much damage, because Tanks get a better Taunt (than the Presence pool's Provoke), and generally get some sort of Taunt aura as well as punchvoke... but I'd like a viable under-lvl-32 mace-build that showcases the Mace as much as the Crab-pack can be used at lower levels (after the initial respec of course).

You can eek out some more defense for the Crab pets by different slotting in each Maneuvers, and IIRC Grant Invisibility also has a base 5% bonus. I think the actual answer is to team with other players!

The Spiderlings have inherent 20% resistance against Smashing, Lethal. and 30% resistance to Psionic The Disruptors have 10% resistance against Smashing/Lethal, 20% against Energy, 30% Psionic The Blaster has inherent 20% resistance against Smashing, Lethal. and 30% resistance to Psionic Expedient Reinforcement gives 10% resistance across the board. All spiders have 0% inherent defense, so this is easy to figure out! Edict of the Master gives 5% defense (all) In my build, TT:Maneuvers is providing 15.75% defense (6-slotted with Reactive Defenses) and Maneuvers (2-slotted with LotG) is providing 4.95% defense.

Thanks for the feedback! I don't usually run at +4/8. When I do, it is with teams and I'm not really relying on the pets for damage. Solo, I'm either running +0/8 or +1/8. I like the drops more than XP, and I'm not looking for uber-challenges at this point in my CoH life! Having disclosed that, I take your point about the number of attacks in the Spiderlings. I haven't been watching the pet combat logs, but the Spiderlings are crazy about rushing into close combat, and when I just have them out I can hear what attacks they are making so I know they are using both attacks in rapid succession. I can also see the Build Up triggering on their buffs, and I certainly see them knocking down opponents. The question is: would it be better to slot the Build Up proc on the (two) Disruptors instead? I feel like slotting the T1 pets is generally better: I have the T1 pets at a lower level when exemplared (only 3 levels lower, so not much) There are 3 T1 pets as opposed to 2 T2 I wanted to boost the accuracy and damage of the T3 pets rather than just incrementing the accuracy/damage of the higher tier pets. If I had the extra slots, I would definitely consider add the Call To Arms: Defense Aura. I have a question here: The in-game text indicates that this is only 20' (as opposed to 40'), do you find this makes a difference? The Spiderlings activate berserker-mode at times; this is understandable given their attacks. I give some extra boost to the pets via Grant Invisibility, which would otherwise be a mule power for Luck of the Gambler Global Recharge (as is Invisibility, my lvl 50 power choice) Boring paragraph on personal power decisions hidden:

I'm running a lvl 50 Crabbermind with 6-pets: the sixth is the Epic Patron Blaster from the Mace pool. This toon has perma-hasten, and the global recharges are timed such that the T2 Disruptors and the T3 Blaster have recharged in under 4 minutes. My experience at my difficulty settings (usually 0x8) is that the T2 and T3 are reasonably well-behaved in that they stay close to me and rarely get wiped out before their timer expires, so I don't have extra recharge in those powers. I'm curious to read other Crab's approach to the pets. Here is the slotting I'm working with for these three pets: T1 (Summon Spiderlings) - 6-slots Level 35: Summon Spiderlings (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (37) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (50) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up T2 (Call Reinforcements) - 5-slots Level 38: Call Reinforcements (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (40) Edict of the Master - Defense Bonus T3 (Summon Blaster) - 4-slots Level 47: Summon Blaster (A)Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge (48) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge (48) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets The rest of this build is pretty tight; the power choices are getting me the Global Recharge I want and I at most could sacrifice a single Proc slot to get an extra slot for the build, but obviously I can move slots among the pets. How do other Crabs feel about this slotting? The Crab pets are all at level 35+, so 4-slotting Expedient Reinforcement as the core of each tier is the no-brainer given that the 4th set bonus is 6.25% Global Recharge. My theory is to have the extra Overwhelming Force damage/knockdown and %Build Up in the T3 because there are three of them and they recharge faster than the other pets. The 40' Edict of the Master Pet Defense (along with my other powers) brings them up to over 25% defenses (from 20% defenses) which definitely feels like it is keeping them in the fight (when they stay close to me!)

The +Recharge is for the Dom, not the Bonfire. I think my Dom has permadom with Hasten, but IIRC is a fraction of a cast time short of permahasten. The timing of Bonfire is such that every proc fires, so the recharge there closes the gap for permahasten.

I certainly have boosted both PVP and Superior IOs, but pay close attention to what you are boosting because if you have already 5-slotted such a set, Enhancement Diversification penalties kick in pretty fast for most of the attributes being boosted. If you are relying on procs, you especially want to see what is happening with Recharge boosters.

Full disclosure: My Bonfire is frankenslotted with Procs (including +Recharge and (Overwhelming Force? or Sudden Acceleration?) KB->KD). Mileage may improve with actual KB sets. As near as I can tell (and I haven't checked logs) the Knockback(Down) in Bonfire doesn't behave like a Control power. I would be happy to be wrong, but I haven't seen it stack and it doesn't appear to contribute to extra WAYLAY! incarnate damage.

I recently activated the second build of my lvl 50 Crab as a Bane. The Crab is a fun AoE w/ 6 pets, but is a little soft with low 30ish% positional Defenses. I realize that I really am supposed to alter play style depending on the build, but taking a lot of aggro with 30% defenses is tricky. I built the Crab with 45%+ positional Defenses and roughly 50% resistances but this build is so much slower on offense. I'm relying on Mace attacks and Mu for offense. The activation animations are murder! The build is extremely capable: on TFs he can run away from the team and not worry about dying, but it clearing rooms by himself was simply not as easy. The Fortunata is as tough as the Bane but delivers so much more AoE offense, plus brings control.