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IMO: Directing henchmen is one of those skills you have to get somewhat good at, and then it becomes necessary to make some (character) design/play choices about how to support your skill level (as a player). I have some tricks I pull off with my henchmen, but I'm no master... rather I try to build my MMs so that they can handle somewhat difficult content and then adapt to the variables within that content... like RNG deciding that the enemy AoE nuke is going to roll low enough to hit my entire squad at once! Writing for myself, I prefer Robotics above all other Primaries because the henchmen are ranged attackers. I can deploy them and be pretty much assured that they will be where I want them to be. I have to support them by keeping aggro, and my design choices have been (1) maximize their defenses and (2) Maintenance drone! For the Primaries that include more melee... I find myself having to be a lot more careful about controlling both the henchmen *and* the battlefield. It is a personal limitation of my own that I have a lot of trouble keeping track of my retinue, however many scampering critters there are from spawns in x8 play, and try to pay attention to the geography of whatever map I am on. I suppose staying in Bodyguard mode all the time is one approach, but I don't find that to be a particularly efficient way to work through content. For a while I've been observing other MM players, especially recently in open-world Giant Monster fights (since the introduction of Monstrous Aethers). Almost universally I see every other MM player (and there are a handful of players with multiple MMs, so there is some bias) do nothing more than simply dogpile a GM... this strategy isn't reliable solo, so several of those MMs dual-box or triple-box. and lean into spamming heals. This is basically a strategy that works in most non-AV, non-GM fights for a solo MM... so I'm not at all surprised that this is how the multi-boxers play against GMs.

This combo is an absolute hoot! With the passives from Martial Arts, leveraging Burst of Speed pretty much allows for a seamless shift between melee and ranged combat. Combat Teleport allows other combinations to do the same, of course. It may not feel much like "Havok" but only because classic Havok is IMO pretty much designed to be a ranged-exclusive.... which might be more "Sentinel" than "Blaster".

Energy Blast / Martial Arts Blaster.

Henchmen, not pets. Homecoming already has implemented much faster re-summon timers. While it is true that a MM cannot immediately target a newly summoned henchmen, it is possible to target an already existing henchmen or pet (at least I haven't found anything in the pet window I couldn't target) and cast the empowerment buff and it will be applied to a newly summoned henchmen. I mention this workaround, because not being able to immediately target a newly summoned creature, but still be able to affect it with AoE, is a feature of the game engine. It isn't specific to MM henchmen. See Rezzing enemies, or newly summoned enemy pets/minions/whatever. I try to summon henchmen outside of obvious AoE, depending on what I am fightining. The only empowerment buff that makes sense to me to "bake in" to the actual summons is the first empowerement... my argument has long been that it makes no sense that the first empowerment comes before both the T2 and T3 summons. However... recent changes to what can be slotted in those powers is a useful improvement over what we had before.

I'll repeat: As far as attacks from the Mastermind (direct or via pseudopets) go... I would not franken-slot those, except for enemy-affecting things like debuffs (and to a lesser extent, knockdowns or slows). Masterminds pay a heavy endurance tax on their powers... so more casting to try to get more %damage is generally a strategy that slows down play. If the %damage is in single-target, then that's also a sort of wasted effort IMO, because directing even one reasonably slotted T1 henchmen against that target is likely to do more damage. %damage requires accuracy slotting in the power, because just like global Accuracy/ToHit bonuses don't help henchmen/pets, they also don't help %damage hit... even if the %proc is successful. For example: On my /Time Corruptor, I discovered similar to @Redlynne that what should have been a fine source of %damage was pretty poor without accuracy slotted. On that solo Corruptor I went with: Level 28: Slowed Response (A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Shield Breaker - Chance for Damage (Lethal) (*) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Damage (Negative Energy) But for a MM, I might use a %-Res piece instead. I would certainly keep at least one %damage just to help keep aggro on the MM... It's hard for me to not add %damage to a 25-foot radius power that has a max target cap of 16! The only thing working against my inclination to add as much %-Resistance as possible to this MM "attack" is that Slowed Response already applies a pretty hefty amount of -Resistance.... and generally I prefer %-Res choices that can "stack" (i.e. extend the 10-second application time) which may-or-may not be possible with the Achilles' Heel piece. I generally prefer using multiples of the Annihilation piece.

I don't disagree about Storm Blast falling behind other Blast sets because of the somewhat complicated mechanics (and build/play choices) to maximize DPS... but I've found a Storm/Storm Defender to a pretty decent solo character (for +0x8, +1x8). My build has plenty of -Resistance, lots of AoE, and plenty of %damage to supplement the (Defender-level) Blasts. The pets and pseudopets are quite good for 'fire-and-forget' play. My Storm/Storm build plays a lot like a DPS-focused Controller, but with a Blast secondary set (because Defender). I can see why a Storm Blast/Storm Summoning Corruptor might feel inferior to a Storm Summoning/Storm Blast Defender... the Blast attacks are quite back-loaded because of the T4 Storm Cell and T6 Intensify. There is little DPS to be had from Storm Summoning without %damage... that's the path my Storm/Storm Defender took. There are some specific choices to be made to make the %damage builds work well, and usually I don't consider that as the first-order path for Corruptors. I've no desire to crunch the numbers with Scourge/No Scourge and different Debuff Values for Defenders v. Corruptors, but my gut tells me that a Storm/Storm Defender with reasonably reliable %damage supplementing the Blasts might actually pull ahead of a Storm/Storm Corruptor in terms of solo DPS. This is even more complicated in my mind because of the different ATO, including a %damage piece for Corruptors unavailable to Defenders. Generally: When I find a Blast set that falls into the weak-ish category or requires some combination/setup, I try that set on a non-Blaster (and usually non-Corruptor) AT. For example, I can make Beam Rifle shine on a Sentinel and Defender, but on my Beam Blasters the set feels decidedly middle-of-the-road on performance (relative to other Blast sets).

My Water/ Blaster's Primary choices: No lean into %damage, because Blaster. The Secondary I use is Atomic Manipulation, and I have that set's Build Up at level 10. Corruptors may have to make different choices. I skipped Water Jet because I came to believe it was only really helping with total DPS when it was "Enhanced" (and hitting), and that trying to get to that combination was costing me DPS. Even after the change to prevent Water Jet from burning Tidal Power on a Miss did not help. I concede that on a non-Blaster Water Jet might be a key component of an attack chain, but as a ST-attack I was unimpressed with it.

Power Creep is such a weird argument to make for or against any one type of attribute enhancement. The Schedule A/B/C/D ED effects and base values apply for ALL enhancements, Purple, PVP, IO, DO, Hamis, whatever. It isn't as if a hypothetical Fear Purple set is going to ignore ED. IIRC, the existing Nightmare set with boosters can enhance the Fear attribute up to a pre-ED value of almost 126% that gets knocked down to around 99% with ED... and of course ToHit chances can be improved by all sorts of ways on top of what the almost 99% (with ED) slotted Accuracy by that choice of slots.

I haven't leveled up a character with Whitecap, but I imagine myself slotting similarly as I do Burst of Speed: Accuracy, along with Endurance and/or Recharge (depending on baseline stats) for set bonuses, and 3x %damage procs. As a Knockdown and -Resistance power (with DoT), it looks to be a pretty useful power to use against enemies that are about to try to pull off some trick of their own. As a self-Teleport, it looks great for getting to where the character is needed to be.

Ok, next count for us the number of Incarnate abilities which enhance Threat and Fear and do the same for those which enhance Defense and Resistance. There already exist IOs for both Threat and Fear, my ask is simply for some Enhancement sets which combine/provide for some of the necessary combinations, like Accuracy and Endurance management... you know, like those in other sets which require ToHit checks.

For most considerations, PVP sets are essentially the same as Purple sets, at least as far as: What the values of the attribute bonuses are, per piece, for level 50 through 50+5 Don't lose set bonuses when playing content below level 50 The biggest differences are (IMO): Characters must be at least level 50 to slot Purple enhancements, whereas PVP sets act as any other level 10-50 enhancement. Purple sets heavily favor Damage (or Control, for the control sets) and Recharge over Accuracy and Endurance Reduction For those that PVP, the PVP sets offer additional bonuses for that content. Many threat toggles benefit from Endurance reduction (and to a lesser extent Accuracy), clicky Threat/Fear attacks require ToHit checks...so against higher-con enemies more accuracy is a good way to improve those powers. The single target Threat and Fear are about as useful as any other single-target control... except that the other controls have a LOT more options for player build variety. Another set of Defense, Defense/Endurance, Defense/Recharge. Defense/Endurance/Recharge, etc. isn't going to do anything different, unless there is a 6th piece with something like a global... that doesn't already exists in that type of set. And it isn't as if there aren't a great many excellent global pieces already in Defense and Resistance sets. With Defense/Resistance... I don't see the need to create Purple sets for those, for two reasons: The combination of attributes (most?) players want to enhance already exist in the existing Defense and Resistance sets, including one PVP set each for them For many (most?) powers that take Defense or Resistance sets, it is actually quite rare that *I* want to slot even as many as four pieces from any given set! The limits from Enhancement Diversification hit hard, because IIRC the schedule for Defense/Resistance starts at something like 40% for those. The set bonuses have to be really worth it. Defense and Resistance powers already can take many awesome global pieces. @Rudra comprehended. I have a lingering feeling that the original devs avoided anything that could be seen as a boost to Taunts and Fears because of how those might play out in PVP. I don't get the same vibe from the Homecoming devs (who replaced Taunt with Threat), and I know that they are open to new enhancement sets for types of powers that have (generally) poor options otherwise. We have gotten new Endurance Modification sets and one new Slow set specifically because the previously existing sets didn't offer enough useful modification for powers that could take those types of sets. Fear and Threat are now the obvious outliers. I can understand why there isn't a populist uprising calling for new sets (there are a cadre of tankers that don't take Taunt, and I find I have to go out of my way to get a Fear power, let alone wanting to dedicate "Fear" slots to). Yet it is obvious to most anyone who tries to build a character using those powers just how limited the build choices are for those powers. Similar limitations do not exist for Defense or Resistance sets.

I believe (with no evidence) that Threat (originally Taunt) and Fear never got a PVP or a Purple set is specifically because of PVP content. That is: if players were hitting other players with PVP-boosted Taunt and Fear effects... neither which work precisely like other controls... and sometimes have "engine changes" to mechanics (Fear especially, but also Taunt)... then whatever "balance" existed in PVP content would become unbalanced. I came to believe this because there was something of a meltdown over Stuns at the original PVP launch. I half-suspect that if players could slot Accuracy/Threat in armor toggles then there would be a fraction of non-aura players that might find this unfair. As I wrote above, there are missing Invention options for both Fear and Threat, and as @Frozen Burn writes, the pickings for set bonuses (and also Franken-slotting!) are incredibly thin with only two level 30-50 choices each. The only non-Travel sets with fewer options in that level range are AFAIK the Recharge Intensive Pet damage and Accuracy-included buff/debuff/healing... but powers that take those sets generally also take other sets. Specific to Hami-O and D-Syncs... those piece can't be crafted, and they offer larger inherent bonuses then crafted pieces.... with one tradeoff being they don't offer set bonuses.

Matching in what way? That they include combinations of (for example) Defense with Accuracy and/or Damage and/or Endurance and/or Recharge?

What is the need?

Was there a proposal in the OP I missed? Both Resistance and Defense sets already have PVP sets, as well as Hami-O and D-Syncs for the most common slotting needs, so what do you want from Purple varieties?

I had minimal interest in the Incarnate content on Live, my attitude hasn't changed. I still have a deep distaste for the "story telling" direction the game went with end-game Prateoria, Incarnate Dark Astoria, Galaxy City, and the Signature Story Arcs. Why? 1) So much of the game is mostly "evergreen" content that felt natural for new characters to experience. "Trashing" entire zones in certain content certainly breaks that immersion. 2) I barely care about other players' bios and life choices, why shove the life choices of an NPC like Manticore or Scirocco down my throat? When people talking about the NPC story arcs... I kinda tune out because I'm not playing here to read someone else's comic book story. 3) The self-feeding cycling of giving players MOAR POWA wasn't great for the game (blah blah subscriptions blah blah fishcakes). I don't have a dog in that fight, but past conversations with some of the most vocal L33T players are obsessed with what they can have, and any challenge involving taking those things away (enhancements, incarnate powers, whatever) isn't actually a true challenge because the players should be able to use all their AWSUM might. It's this (weird, IMO) mental model of the game's challenges I cannot grok. It's basically the same reason why I disliked almost every appearance of Q in ST:TNG. "I am all powerful and I am bored... and by the way did I mention I am a superior being?"

My global had a space in the name, so the macro was never working for me. I don't maintain many alts, and my Inf hoard is pretty much established to be self-sustaining... that is, I don't have the need to accumulate more Inf, and between the other things in my hoard (Merits, Recipes, Enhancements, etc.) my slow-ish playstyle allows me to build up new characters as desired. As for how I transfer wealth: It's pretty much a single on-demand email transfer of a single Hero Merit plus anywhere between 50M and 100M Inf, depending on what I want to purchase from S.T.A.R.T. at level 1. Initial purchases are usually some prestige travel options, turn off rez insps, Reveal, some temp attack powers, and the offensive/defensive/recovery buffs. The Hero Merit is usually just to allow some quick conversion to whatever: typically unslotters and converters. Things like ATO and other commonly used enhancements will be waiting in the SG base.

Full disclosure, I don't like FF as a MM secondary. My experience with FF on other AT is that the character hits the point of diminishing returns fast... so 6-slotting every bubble/shield is probably a waste of slots. Most Defensive powers are fine with just 2 slots of 50+5 Defensive pieces (or equivalent, or Hami-O). The only Defensive set bonuses I bother with are Reactive Defenses, and Shield Wall. If I am skimping on slots and using LotG Def/Recharge, occasionally I will use 50+5 LotG pieces to further enhance those powers... I just don't value the LotG set bonuses that much, MM attacks when chosen should be slotted for set bonuses. It is a bad idea IMO to try to make a MM a source of damage (from procs or otherwise). MM's have five "unique" global Defense/Resistance enhancements from (Recharge Intensive) Pet sets, one Superior %buildup piece for henchmen, and two more global defense/resistance pieces from the ATO sets. Ignoring the %Build Up, that is seven enhancement pieces that ought to be included in every MM build to make the henchmen more survivable... they are the source of damage. The three tiers of henchmen have max 18 slots, so without some other power (like Gang War) it is necessary to divide up those 7 pieces among the three tiers. It is possible that with FF secondary one or more of the global aura enhancements could be skipped, but I don't recommend it without serious testing. On my Robots build I only used four of the five Pet damage pieces myself. The next thing to consider is this: You really ought to enhance both Accuracy and Damage for the henchmen tiers! not only are the henchmen the source of damage, there will be level shifts (downward) for most of the game's content. The MM (superior) ATO are very good for this! Since you mention Robotics, let me share my slotting... as this should make it clear how my thinking goes. Level 1: Battle Drones (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up: Level 50 (*) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets (*) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage (*) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus The Battle Drones get two of the five damage set pieces. With four remaining slots I want to get an ATO bonus (10% Global Recharge, because my MM is doing other things) and I want as much Accuracy and Damage as possible, so Sovereign Right offers me more Accuracy/Damage plus a Regeneration bonus... normally I don't care that much about Regeneration, but because of the effective pool of Hit Points/Health when using Bodyguard mode, I'd rather have it than not. This piece could be franken-slotted with a Hami-O. Note that I put the %Build Up piece in the henchmen tier I will have three of... each henchmen will trigger this %proc, and quite frequently... and this is the henchman tier that needs the boost the most. My three T1 end up doing the equivalent amount of damage as my one T3 in the same amount of time, FWIW. Level 12: Protector Bots (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Hami-O Defense/Endurance (53 or use a 50+5) (*) Edict of the Master: Defense Bonus (*) Call to Arms: Defense Aura for Pets (*) Call to Arms: Accuracy/Damage I found it hard to get a lot of offense from the T2 robots, so they get two of the five damage set unique pieces. It also provides another 10% Global Recharge bonus. The T2 burn endurance quite hard, so they get Accuracy, Damage and Endurance Reduction boosts. The T2 provide defensive bubbles, which on a non-FF MM are well-worth boosting, I use a Hami-O. The Call to Arms set tops at level 30, but the extra Endurance recovery is valuable for my MM. If the Recovery boost is not valued, the fifth of five global aura pieces could go in its place, or a Hami-O, or a boosted Soulbound Allegiance. Level 22: Assault Bot (A) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Recharge/Pet +AoE Defense Aura: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Endurance, +Resist (All) +Regen(Pets): Level 50 Nothing fancy for T3, except to get MM ATO set bonuses I want (2x 10% more Global Recharge), plus the two global pieces for henchmen/pets. Auras affect the henchmen (and pets) while they are close to the MM. They do nothing for the MM directly, and only indirectly through Bodyguard mode. Comments about %damage procs, which I generally avoid. Note that AFAIK, all %damage procs for henchmen can only come from "secondary" effects. 1) %damage will only trigger in the attacks made which include the specific secondary effect. If (for example) a henchman is only casting a power with a -Defense secondary effect half the time... the %damage will never have a greater than 50% chance to be applied (for each henchman) 2) %damage requires each of an initial ToHit check for the base attack, a %proc chance (between 10% and 90%), and an individual ToHit check for the %damage based on the inherent and slotted accuracy of the power (i.e. no global ToHit or accuracy bonuses)... if the henchmen are fighting level shifted enemies, they will have inherently poor %damage chances because of the ToHit formula. %procs like the Soulbound Allegiance %Build Up and the Overwhelming Force %Knockdown will have a chance to trigger on every attack... these are much better choices IMO than any %damage choice for Henchmen, I realize others feel differently, but my opinion is that T1 and T2 need Accuracy and Damage, and without accuracy the %damage will be mediocre anyway, so why try to thread that needle? The T3 is IMO the place to put the MM ATO sets,.. adding %procs to T3 is hindering its damage output IMO.

Here is my PoV: There aren't attribute combinations for Defense and Resistance that aren't available and useful, AFAIK. Let's have Purple sets for Fear and Threat first.... for the following reasons: 1) There are only two pieces in (different) Threat sets which include Accuracy, and many Threat powers require Accuracy. A Purple or PVP set could fill this niche. 2) There are no Threat set pieces which reduce Endurance costs, there are quite a few Threat powers which could benefit from Endurance reduction (i.e. toggles) Fear enhancement sets are IMO better balanced in terms of attributes (Accuracy, Endurance, Recharge... and Fear obviously) but I see a "gameplay gap" where single-target Fear powers are almost completely useless, with the only exception being if a player stacks a single-target Fear onto a critter that has already been hit by another Fear. I'd like to see a "Contagious Fear" %proc, similar to the one from the Coercive Persuasion Confusion Enhancement set... as I have found that turning a Single-Target mezz into a %multi-target mezz to be a way to make inferior powers more useful across more content. 3) I generally find the choices of which set bonuses to pursue from the Fear sets to be mediocre, and I also default to Mocking Beratement for Threat, I find it annoying to only have two "up to level 50" sets from both Threat and Fear to consider for builds, without resorting to franken-slotting.

To be fair, because players only get one enhancement slot when they pick a power, the proposed trade-off should be "one less power, one more slot".

I will choose Corruptor pretty much only when the following stars align: There is a primary/secondary combination I want that I can't get from another AT The primary or secondary has a lot of powers I want to take (especially early power picks) I want damage more than secondary effects (from primary/secondary) My second point may seem a little odd, but it plays into the "what do I want to do with the character"... and often when the primary/secondary choices I want for concept include Corruptor and I don't feel the need to lean into damage early... I will usually go in another direction. It's hard to describe, and I offer no hard data, but for solo play I've usually found Defenders (and even Controllers) to be quicker about cleaning large spawns than Corruptors. Against AVs solo Corruptors probably have the advantage but I haven't done much testing without incarnates.

Intensify is a power that I considered dropping or delaying in order to get Rune of Protection earlier in the build. I kept Intensify because I wanted to have an on-demand power to boost damage from single-target attacks, for those times when I am down to the one-or-two "hard targets". For my play style, I considered only single-slotting it with the %Build up, but I did not make that change. Reason: I often team with groups that will split up on "defeat all" missions and having the boost available more often against +4s helps. Even without the %Build Up, Intensify is maxing out the damage bonus of the (Fast) Snipe) from +ToHit.

With league/team fix now in place... it's pretty much down to RNG, Do you qualify for a reward roll (so none observed for Sally, or for being too far away, or slacking), The recent Saturday Night Synapse had 18 Babbage defeats, my character got four mini-Babbage recipe drops.