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It does appear that the Protector Bots do less healing (when the Maintenance Drone is out), but my same eyes tell me that the Protector Bots are doing more damage. Prior to Maintenance Drone, my Protector Bots would often be the only henchmen standing around with full Endurance bars (because they were not attacking so much). after the change to the primary their Endurance usage tracks much more in line with the T1 and T3. As an aside, I could easily discriminate between the T2 actions and the T1/T3 actions because prior to the Robotics revamp I had the T1/T3 slotted for KB->KD but NOT on the T2... so pretty much all of the T2 uses of Endurance were easily visible. TL;DR: What the OP thinks is a bug is IMO an improvement in previous T2 henchmen behavior.

I can't really comment on how /Nature will perform for the henchmen, except that positioning will require a little extra effort. Robots should make that slightly easier than some other primaries. As for team efforts, you may find that you have to make some build decisions to improve the Secondary's performance enough so that you can help fast-moving teams. Those build decisions may work against what you need to do as a MM. You do of course have more than one build to use. Specifically: For team-healing, you probably want higher recharge than you would other wise need as a leader of henchmen The slotting choices will be radically different for the heals, Maintenance Drone is all the Robots need, but it doesn't help teammates. You will probably need to lean even-heavier into Endurance management. Nature has ways to help, but you will have to slot these to maximize them.

As far as Overwhelming Force: IMO what we need first is a Superior Overwhelming Force set. Right now, I pretty much only use the Overwhelming Force for: Characters who are leveling up, and I don't have anything else specific to use for some power The KB->KD piece (99%) and/or the Endurance/Recharge piece (1%) Once I get to a final (level 50) build, I feel that there are almost always better choices (in terms of Enhancement values AND set bonuses) to be had by using Superior Winter ATOs, Hami-O or D-Syncs, PVP level 50s, or (especially when frankenslotting) simply boosting non-attuned level 50 pieces. If I could get attuned and catalyzed values from a hypothetical Superior Overwhelming Force, I'd be using more of those pieces in many builds. I don't want to completely yuck on the Overwhelming Force set, as it is a nice option for 'merit/inf poor' players to get some useful attuned set bonuses for running fun content... but as far as the set bonuses go, most of the actual set bonuses can be had by one-slotting certain uniques (as mules).

FWIW from memory, this Sentinel is the only character in my stable that hit its ATs HP cap (with accolades, and not counting what I might be doing with some of my Tankers). It is also the only character for which I ever 6-slotted the Ragnarok set! I don't often play Sentinels, but I love seeing the targeting reticle appear on an enemy. In addition to the effects it brings, it demonstrates to me that the player is paying attention to the fight.

As @Jen-Ru9 wrote: If the henchmen are close by, and in Bodyguard mode, they act as a pool of Health AND will attack that which is aggro-ed by the MM. Generally, I don't want enemies to focus-fire on the henchmen. Even better is to have pseudo-pets deployed that will also draw aggro... which is one of the aspects of Traps that makes it a powerful secondary. Robots are ranged attackers so they are generally better about staying where you want them to stay, and in Bodyguard mode, if they aren't being knocked around they will often stay somewhat clustered. For much of the Live era; Dark was probably the most useful Secondary choice. It is still a good choice, but it isn't IMO as dominant a choice. From my memory of Live, it was the PBAoE heal (available at low levels) plus Shadow Fall which made it a 'peak early and never look back' set. and who doesn't like Dark Servant? These days, it really is not that important to worry about healing henchmen, and sufficient defenses/resistances can be achieved by any combo of powers. The best two powers in /Dark Miasma for MMs are IMO Tar Patch and Howling Twilight, for the -Res and -Regeneration.... but again, in an era with Enhancement sets and Envenomed Daggers, it is possible for (m)any other MMs to get there too. Keep in mind that the game directly rewards defeating enemies, not keeping henchmen alive.

For Masterminds: If I am going to not charge through levels 1-16, I typically make different power choices in those levels than would make sense in a finished build, because finished builds have more enhancement slots, and more opportunities for late-build "mule" powers. One power set I often take specifically when leveling up is the Medicine Pool, specifically to keep the small number of henchmen alive in tougher fights... like street sweeping Perez Park, at level. After I get more slots, I eventually respec out of Medicine.

I just wanted to pop in to write that my Beam Rifle / Energy Aura Sentinel is shockingly good at jumping directly into the fray... And STANDING THERE. I don't consider this to be true tanking, as there is no aggro management per se, yet spreading Disintegration and mixing up targets can get a lot of attention. It took me a while to glom onto this play style for BR; it is what I think works best for me.

I have /Thermal on a Thugs Build, and do not like it. I have a Robotics/ Build and I can't imagine using a dedicated Healing / Henchman Buffing secondary with it. The inherent recharge times on Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor are simply too long to improve henchmen performance IMO. There is another thing I don't like about /Thermal: until level 28, the secondary offers nothing to pull aggro to the MM... and some advice for a new player, don't rely on Provoke, as it requires a ToHit check and has a target cap of 5 targets.

Sa-da-tay.

Of the Homecoming characters I brought to level 50 in 2023, I don't think I bothered to get any of them to have a T3 in each incarnate power. I almost always slot Alpha (for level shift, plus it is essentially a gate to some popular content) but my general attitude is still colored by Live... I don't mind that Homecoming makes Incarnate content straightforward (and easy, if that's your thing) but since so much of the game doesn't need Incarnates I often just don't seek it out. A casual observation during the Winter event: I'd frequently witness teams popping Lore pets to take on Winter Lords in Atlas Park. The Lore pets certainly speed up the defeats, yet in every circumstance it was completely unnecessary. I'd understand summoning them for trying the same thing when solo, but the scaled GMs in AP are pretty straightforward to handle by even small teams that can muster attack chains.

I have been considering folding up my Ninjas/Pain MM and rerolling it as Ninja/Trick Arrow. The one thing I think I would be sure to do is to slot %-Res from Annihilation, backed up with at least one other piece from that set (for the MaxEnd bonus) in each power to try to keep the extra Resistance Debuff in play as long as possible, to improve henchmen damage. The Endurance tax on Masterminds is pretty brutal, so I am inclined to 6-slot Annihilation in at least three powers. I like a LOT of the powers in Trick Arrow, but a constantly attacking MM can quickly drain the Endurance bar... so with the rest of the attacks (that I almost certainly would take) I would prioritize Accuracy, Duration and then Endurance costs for the secondary. Recharge can be a killer for active MMs so I would make that a lower priority (at least in my current theory crafting).

Well... sort of. Slotted recharge does lower a %proc rate, but there are three general cases I can think of where the reduced rate would be essentially unnoticeable in anything like normal play: The inherent recharge time of the power is already so short that the %proc rate is already abysmal. The inherent recharge time of the power is already so long that the recharge from a full set doesn't actually hurt %proc chances The set includes a %proc with an improved PPM that somewhat mitigates any loss that would be due to slotting Recharge pieces from the same set. There are plenty of sets that can be slotted into "attacks" for which 3 set pieces can be slotted and not enhance recharge time. A bigger tradeoff to choosing "lotsa procs" is that by trying for many rolls of the RNG to improve damage, a character can end up being somewhat less effective, especially solo. Some ways: Missing out on Accuracy (and/or ToHit) makes the %procs far less likely to 'stick' Missing out on Endurance reduction can lead to fewer attacks (and if the class has an Endurance tax, like Masterminds, this will be very noticeable) Missing out on reliable Damage enhancements for high-damage scalar ATs (for high recharge attacks) may pay fewer dividends I consider the above to be 'first order' considerations, but there are higher-order effects too. Consider an attack chain that requires 2 attacks to defeat a particular enemy mobile, whether slotted with %damage or not (in either or both attacks). If the recharge time of the powers are longer and each power takes more endurance for the %proc attack chain, it seems to me that by also giving up some set bonuses (to have %damage) that the character with the %proc build ultimately has a lower quality-of-life than the one leveraging set bonuses. I won't lie: I like to leverage %damage, especially for inherently low DPS characters. It is more that I look at the potential tradeoffs differently.

One of the things I like about the Homecoming experience is that I find it to be pretty symmetrical across ATs. Not all ATs can approach all content the same way, but generally all ATs can experience and conquer all the same content.

I don't have many characters, so: I almost never delete characters, but I do abandon them. Characters tend to get abandoned when: I think of a different character, with a better name that I think fits the AT/Powersets "better". I'm not completely sold on my initial concept.

I too am often annoyed by the 'run away' mode... especially when the mission requires the defeat of a specific spawn, and members of that spawn run far enough away that they get lost/stuck and take forever to wander back, or occasionally go get mixed up with other spawns I don't want to engage with. This has been so long part of the game that I just accept it. at least Combat Teleport exists. If there is any element of this AI behavior that I don't like, it is that the enemies with a Teleport-away power (e.g. Tsoo Sorcerers, Rikti Headmen) will pretty much come right back to the spot they left... so it isn't as if the enemies that ran across the map have to casually stroll back to their spawn location... I just watched them sprint away! One (paired) part of the 'run away' game that I continually, casually, curse the original developers for is: The original devs seemed to take a queer delight in giving the 'monstrous' form to mobiles with inherently high speed, as some sort of juvenile "gotcha" Those same mobiles are often super-resistant to slows and immobilizes, which are EXACTLY the types of powers that players should want to take to specifically deal with that annoying AI behavior for specific enemies. I blame the second bullet point as the reason why I find it so hard to choose single-target immobilize powers, and I suspect it may be the reason some players avoid taking some of the less glitzy slow powers.

Even though I would almost certainly use some of those pieces, because "Accuracy" fits with so many different types of powers, I don't know if such a set would really mimic what the Overwhelming Force set does. I'm partially thinking about (re)coding what sets can accept which pieces. I'd prefer to go in a different direction, with something like an always attuned "Universal Control" (Overwhelming Control?) set, where "Control" includes the usual Hold/Immob/Fear/Stun/etc. and also Threat. I'm on the fence about suggesting this for Debuffs, including Slow.... but those sets are also somewhat lacking in imagination IMO. I definitely want Threat included for reasons I have often written. Some Control type powers are well represented with variety, others not so much. I am thinking: Accuracy/Control/Threat Accuracy/Endurance/Control/Threat Endurance/Recharge Accuracy/Endurance Endurance/Control/Threat Accuracy/Recharge/Control/Threat I should note; I am aware that a lot of good %proc powers (AoEs) have a "control" element to them (not to mention all the Tanker attacks with a Taunt component) and could slot a set like this, so I am trying to show some restraint. AFAIK all the existing control/threat sets have an Accuracy/Recharge piece so I didn't include that piece... I was motivated to try to provide different options specifically for the Fear and Threat powers. I'm not that particular on what the set bonuses could be (I am underwhelmed by the Overwhelming Force bonuses), I would maybe balance between what Control ATs need (mezz resistance) and 'Taunters' need (regeneration).

Accuracy/Endurance is definitely a piece I crave... typically I will have AoE attack powers on low DPS characters who specifically want a piece like that for %proc attacks. Similarly, would it have been the end of the world to also have an Endurance/Recharge (only) Hami-O so we weren't all chasing D-Sync Decelerations? An Accuracy/Threat piece would have been nice, as there are plenty of Threat powers that are not Auto-Hit, and I've seen a few builds with Taunt auras that could probably use one. See also Threat/Endurance for toggles. I realize that PVP concerns put a real whammy on all things "Taunt", but if the Homecoming team can expand the number Endurance Modification sets, surely there is some room for new Threat pieces. I think it is crazy that there are no Accuracy/Threat, Endurance/Threat, or Accuracy/Endurance pieces in any Threat set. Even the Fear sets have those types of combinations!

This is something that is generally pretty easy to test with unslotters. I suggest finding large spawns of even-con enemies (you may want to "flashback" and go to a hazard zone, or for level 50s can use the Abandoned Sewer Network). You may have to set up a tab to also monitor 'pet combat' depending on the power being tested. You don't want to face low-level spawns because the ToHit formula is heavily weighted in the players favor when mobiles are outclassed! As near as I can tell: There are a very small number of 'attack' powers (i.e. powers that require a target be picked before clicking, and damage is applied to that target) that can take %damage pieces and also cannot take (common IO) Accuracy slotting... and I haven't been able to observe that Accuracy (via a slottable set, as opposed to a common yellow IO) makes any difference on %damage from them... those powers seem to only apply the %proc chance independent of ToHit. As far as %proc rates and (slotted) Recharge on attacks, I have three general categories: Inherent recharge rates faster than 12 seconds: If there is a %proc, it is only because it is part of a set I am using anyway. Inherent recharge rates equal to or slower than 90 seconds: I don't sweat adding any recharge to those powers. Everything else: gets a case-by-case examination. Shorter recharge powers (~16 sec) I try not to have too much slotted recharge, a 60-second recharge power can tolerate more slotted recharge. I used to crunch the %proc rates for every power (single-target, AoE), but I don't do this any more unless something seems 'off'.

I'm not trying to make suggestions on other posted builds, just my thoughts. I feel qualified to discuss the secondary. The primary is one I would almost certainly go heavy into %damage. My experience with Controllers that have Cones and AoE can solo a LOT of content with larger spawn sizes (although perhaps not solo at +4x8!) which takes a lot of the sting out of being slow to gain XP at lower levels. Here is how I slot Howling Twilight: (A) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal) (*) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5 This is the compromise made to allow it to be used as a 'nuke' for low level content. Note that the Accuracy is slotted to assist with the %damage, since %damage requires a ToHit check (even on 'autohit' powers). The final Ragnarok piece was chosen to keep the Endurance cost under control and for the Recovery bonus. While leveling, I would pretty much only slot this power for recharge and not try to get too clever with it until you have the slots. I use Shadow Fall as a mule power, plus as a place for the +ToHit Kismet piece (because it is almost always toggled on)... as these types of Dark characters usually lean into %damage: (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (*) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5 (*) Kismet - Accuracy +6% (*) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection (*) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (*) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed While leveling: use Shadow Fall to hold whatever Globals you need (i.e. Gladiator's Armor) I've just included a typical 'final slotting' that I use. Tar Patch is just 2xIO Recharge (boosted). I know there are other options, its just that I think that those are generally inferior uses of enhancement slots. Somewhat similarly, I tend to minimize Twilight Grasp: (A) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Twilight Grasp isn't a particularly good %proc power (compared to other powers you will have available), but the %+End will probably be important while leveling. The slotting I have shown would be used for leveling, and only in a final build if I didn't have a better use for the Theft of Essence slot. I see that slot as a sort of Quality-of-Life choice. I have found that Dark Servant doesn't need any clever slotting. This set doesn't offer the largest possible pet boosts, but it is the best set choice IMO. (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff (*) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge Hot takes on the primary choices: In choosing between T1 Dark Grasp and T2 Shadowy Binds, I could go either way. I don't think I'd rely on either for %damage (that is what the AoE are for!) so I am thinking minimal slotting (Acc/Mez) for the single-target Hold to be used for trying to stack control on harder targets. I could be persuaded to go with the ST Immobilize for the same reason, depending on what types of enemies give me the most grief (those that resist immobilize, or those that resist hold). T3 Living Shadows would have some sort of %damage slotting. The 8-sec recharge time on the AoE isn't great, so I'd balance it against the rest of what I am doing with the rest of the build. T4 Posses: I like 6x Coercive Persuasion, but I don't know if I would lean into the single-target Confuse with this Primary/Secondary. T5 Fearsome Stare would either get 4xCloud Senses + Glimpse of the Abyss, or possibly some ATO slotting. I'd have to do some true building to see. T6 Heart of Darkness is another obvious %damage candidate. T7 Haunts: Lots of options here. I probably wouldn't go crazy with %procs (possibly Soulbound Allegiance %Build Up) but I would have to test. I feel like I'd want them debuffing as much as I want them doing damage. T8 Shadow Field: Likely to be slotted to be a %damage nuke with some control, so maybe 3x Gladiator's Net if not going 5xUnbreakable Guard. I have found the Entomb Recharge/%Absorb to be a good piece for this type of power. T9 Umbra Beast; I have never played a character that had this guy! With a couple of -ToHit attacks, I'd consider a %damage from Cloud Senses, but as a practical matter I think I'd want this guy doing damage before all else.

I don't play Beast Mastery, but I'm not terribly surprised about Pack Mentality's radius... to me, it looks like a lot of "radius effects" for henchmen are treated as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . The element that bothers me the most is "passing an Inspiration to a Henchmen", but I don't know how this could be addressed for Henchmen/Pets without changing how it works for Player-to-Player passing. The most interesting results of the test (to me, anyway) are the many applications of the Achilles' Heel %debuff. I'm assuming that it was roughly 10 applications in 2.5 minutes for each of the three T1 Wolves... but 30+ hits (a single application has 10 sec duration each application) are helping boost net damage (modulo Damage Resistance Resisting of Resistance debuffs). Personally: I wouldn't put %damage in a T3 Henchman because: There are good set bonuses (from Pet/ATO sets) to be had, The sets that give good bonuses to henchmen enhance the T3 in favorable ways (accuracy, damage, endurance) There is only one T3, so relying on %damage is something I see as relying too much on RNG Even with the rates observed on the T1 %procs, I wouldn't lean into the other %damage pieces. Instead, I would give the T1s the Soulbound Allegiance %BuildUp piece and possibly the Universal Damage Overwhelming Force Knockdown piece (for regular play, not for pylon tests).

This happens in the later SSA1 ("Who Will Die?") episodes 5 (and extra Darrin Wade spawns, who cons friendly to blue) and 6 (PPD con/act as enemies to blue & Penny)

I am constantly "merit rich" (orders of magnitude more than 1K merits), here are some of the things I do with them: 1a) Buy (directly) ATO Enhancements for new characters. As mentioned above, with the Auction House this isn't economical, but I find it satisfying. Pretty much all my builds leverage ATO, I find it very convenient to slot these to get the set bonuses ASAP. 1b) Occasionally, there will be one-or-more power in a (new) character's build that will benefit from a small number of Winter Enhancements. Typically I have some attuned PVP enhancements that better fit what I need, but I like these for franken-slotting. I don't often use Winter pieces for set enhancements; the builds that use them almost always do so to have a Superior enhancement bonuses that scale down for exemplar content. 2) Enhancement Boosters (at Level 50). I almost always have 'finished builds' with a large number of level 50 pieces that can stand to be enhanced. 3) Enhancement Converters/Unslotters, when I find myself short on them and I am too lazy to use the AH. 4a) Level 50 PVP and Very Rare recipes. I don't have that many alts, and I tend to play my level 50s such that I get these as drops, but occasionally I don't feel like playing converter roulette or waiting for bids to fill. These are all boostable, so I tend to keep my preferable (non-%proc, non-global) PVP 50s in storage (Accuracy/-- or --/Endurance pieces, Gladiator's Armor, Shield Wall, Panacea, Gladiator's Net, etc.) for use on the 'complete' build. Note: I often have most of the Very Rares for a 'finished build' that I want (from drops, because I level slowly and also play my 50s), so the merit vendor is typically used to fill gaps in a set rather than buying 15-20 recipes. 4b) Occasionally: Level 10 PVP recipes. (via Merits -> Hero/Villain Merits -> Email -> new level 10). The level 10 recipes are dirt cheap to craft, and they tend to use rare salvage that would otherwise clutter the SG base salvage racks. I do this when I have burned through the useful %globals and %damage PVP pieces that I have already attuned. These have to be bought with a low level character, as PVP recipes at the vendor will match the character level. Note that PVP recipes (at any level) are reasonably cheap to buy on the AH anyway. I will also play converter roulette with all sub-50 PVP enhancements to get pieces I am likely to use while leveling and burn Catalysts to make them both scalable and slot-able early for new characters. 5) Tip missions. Occasionally if I want a specific level-appropriate Tip mission (for a badge) I'll just buy the mission I want for a single merit. I don't buy Catalysts with Merits, but that's because I have enough level 50s and it pretty much takes a single door mission at x8 to get one catalyst drop per day. This is also a good way to get the Very Rare/PVP recipe drops.

/agree. Two ways to make Synapse faster: 1) Play with some teammates who have good slotting, AoE (including temp) attacks, and split up on the "defeat alls" 2) Tackle it solo. Low-DPS characters can take the final fight with just the temp power and a temp summons (Shivans work fine) In the case of (1), I don't mind playing Synapse with+N if the team has decent Accuracy/ToHit slotting. More than any other effect, I find that it is low ToHit chances that teams struggle with on lower level TFs.

Level Shifts seem to always be forgotten when folks discuss "Defensive Softcaps". For Incarnate content, level shifts are mitigated by Supremacy. TLDR: Offense > Defense, especially don't worry about keeping them "alive". Low level MM play values keeping them alive, high-level play recognizes them as fodder. As a practical matter; once the Robotic Henchmen are Equipped and Upgraded, they need very little extra defense, especially if the Maintenance Drone is kept in the picture. My Robots Traps runs with just the FFG, Maneuvers and the Defensive Uniques; it has no trouble with Giant Monsters. Higher level AVs can be a problem, if accompanied by large higher-level spawns... but mostly if I am not ready for them or don't resummon any defeated henchmen.

How important are the Pet/Henchmen Defense uniques (Call to Arms, Edict of the Master, Command of the Mastermind) for a FF secondary? Normally, "every little bit helps" but since FF is already bringing the Bubbles... and is otherwise somewhat hurting on offense/debuffing... and Robotic Hanchmen are pretty much exclusively ranged attackers... I'm wondering if it might not offer more value to avoid slotting those uniques, and experiment with some more accuracy/damage (or %damage) in the T1 and/or T2 henchmen. EDIT: On my (Traps) robotic henchmen, they often are not close enough to benefit from all the defense uniques... but they will have pretty good defenses anyway.