Crysis

Saw it tonight……best MCU Ive seen since Avengers Endgame. Nice tie in to Loki series. TONS of easter eggs. I counted at least two dozen!

Just hit 43 with the build I posted up above. Opener is Tide Pool, then Whitecap into middle of spawn, zombies enter the fray, Torodial bubble, etc etc and blast as desired. Very effective, reminds me of playing /Time MM a bunch. Man the Frenzy you build up when the whole gang is in the TIde Pool is insane....I've seen as many 30 buffs on the bar. I'm playing +2/x8 mostly, but have done +3/x5. I'm sure +4/x8 is gonna be possible in a few more levels, although that level shift is always problematic outside of Incarnate content. Nonetheless....very safe, very sturdy (I hardly ever get hit, even by mezzers) and zombies just keep on trucking. Far better than my Necro/Storm did. Good set, almost custom-made for MM's.

Simply put, the two biggest differences between those who play MM’s well and those who cannot are: 1) Learning how to maneuver/position your henchman and otherwise keep them under control and 2) Learning “posture” for same. The vast majority of MM players I see in game use just ONE playstyle. They place the henchman on follow and put them on Defensive posture. Then everything is either a Zerg for them (rush headlong into the spawn) or they stay at range and throw out buffs and debuffs and maybe an attack now and then while their collective firepower (henchmen) do….almost nothing. Unless the MM gets attacked or they do, which isn’t happening way back from the fray. And it’s clear to me that they are on Defensive Follow because they think Bodyguard must be kept going at all times. Sometimes this can work well for some spawns and some power sets. My Robot/Time can play this way and be mostly effective as she jumps into the spawn and takes the alpha because of high +DEF and running Times Juncture and the bots then engage via ranged attacks to start. But even she must on occasion put the bot boys around the corner using Go Here/Stay/Passive commands, duck around corner to grab a bunch of aggro from spawn closest to door, then rejoin the bot army and wait until we see the whites of their eyes and trigger Defensive Follow or Aggressive mode quickly to complete the ambush. Running into a crowded room on Zerg mode using Defensive Follow is a sure way to overdraw aggro and fight multiple spawns at once and get overwhelmed. Likewise unleashing your full DPS capabilities by invoking a single Attack my Target command against a Sapper, a Mezzer or some other troublesome foe first and then quickly shifting back into bodyguard Defensive posture to better take the retaliatory alpha from the rest of the spawn is so intuitive to me now that I can easily remember the keybinds I use to do this in game as I type this. I’m a @Sandolphan fan by the way….best keybinds I’ve ever found and I use them constantly. You master positioning and posture commands via a good set of binds and the rest is up to the power set choices and slotting strategies, but even those don’t matter as much as positioning and posture. Zerging and allowing your henchmen to hang back and do nothing….you will be one of the weakest members of the team. You may as well just be a sitter in a fire farm at that point or master henchmen emoting. Neither your attacks nor your buffs/debuffs are ever going to do as much for your effectiveness as a MM as will positions and postures of your pets. The devs who created all those special commands for the class did so for a very good reason…..they knew they were critical to the AT. That’s why you get all these free extra button commands when you roll a MasterMind.

You don't really need Hasten, but it does help. You could easily fit back in SJ in there if you'd like, swapping it for Hasten, and then throw the extra slot somewhere else. I do think Tactics is a must though.

Just ran Black Scorp on +2/x5, not at all. Lots of END to spare and I'm using primary attacks a bunch.

Here, messed around a bit after dinner. 45% S/L, 55% E, 44% NE/R for +DEF. Stole plenty from +RES bonuses, but see my point above, but left you decent +RES for S/L/E/N. High recharge, Net+ END, plenty of +ToHit and decent +Accuracy. Two downsides....no real travel power, but P2W vendor makes that not a big deal these days, and I had to omit Leviathan, which ticks me off but everything is a tradeoff. Think I'd go with Destiny>Clarion for mezz protection, so be prepared for that prior to endgame, and maybe pick up some of the Radial stuff for T4's to pump +DEF a bit to compensate. Agility Radial T4 will take you to 50+ S/L/E and 45+ NE/R for +DEF. One thing I learned about Necro after the last patch is you don't need to fully slot your attacks. They are there more to get you the extra henchmen than to do damage themselves, since your damage is pretty pathetic even with procs. Theorycrafting, but I have a lvl 40 Necro/Marine ready to be respecced so I'll try that tonight and see how this plays. https://api.midsreborn.com/build/download/Fjpuij2fpxGJu4MM

Might be well known but Torodial Bubble procs Perf Shifter -an awful lot.- I'm averaging 3-4 procs per minute with that thing. If it's broken, I don't want it fixed! I'm gonna try Power Transfer % to Heal in there tonight. edited to add: Honestly, for almost all my MM builds I go for + Def rather than + RES. Bodyguard effectively is +RES if your henchmen are alive, but +DEF is what keeps you alive so you can keep them alive. I’m going to use your build as a template but try and get softcap +DEF for S/L/R….I think I can get there.

Def no disagreements from me about Storm/Storm for a Defender. I mean on my Storm/Storm corruptor I can solo just fine, better than fine, but then same can be said for most Corruptor builds. Ironically, the issue with my Storm/Storm wasn’t from soloing at all….+3/x8 and some mobs +4/x8 weren’t difficult when -I- set the pace and could synch up all the different benefits from my attacks and debuffs. Get a double lightning storm and double tornado out and then just blast to my hearts content, dropping freezing rain as much as possible. Stuff melts fine. Not as fast as just about any other Corruptor I have but def not top tier. Not bottom rung either but….I can see it from there, that’s for darn sure. The issue was in teaming. I could still get out double LS and double Tornado, but had very little ability to make the most use out of my attacks before everything was gone and the team was moving to the next spawn. And truthfully, my secondary storm attacks did almost more DPS than my primary on teams because -so much is back loaded.- On a Defender, I’d be more inclined to play support first and throwing in blasts as able as my secondary approach. Sure, I can make an “Offender” and play primarily offense….but just like on Corruptors, there’s a host of better attack sets to take on Defenders too. My issue with Storm Blast has been, and remains, simply that compared to just about all other attack types….it’s wonky mechanic leaves it pretty lackluster. Absolutely gorgeous to look at, but better pew pew for the endurance out there. But yeah, if someone asked me Storm/Storm on Corr vs Defender, as long as they weren’t primarily looking to build an Offense-oriented toon, I’d likely recommend Defender version. But even then…..better Offender builds are available.

On the test server, I found MM primaries of Demons, Ninja's, Mercs and Necro to ALL work extremely well with Marine Affinity. Thematically also. Seal Team Six themes are gonna be everywhere. Calypso themed for Demons. Necro and Ninja's easy enough to pull off any number of "Pirates of the Caribbean" themed characters. Heck, I saw some Seaworld-trainder-inspired players already that were really well thought out for backstories. I love it when we get new powersets not just for finding out "what meshes well with them" but all the new character themes that people dream up! My vote is ALWAYS to go MM. I already have 15 new alts parked with a variety of MM powersets and names. I'm sure I'll delete half of them but that's part of the fun!

Quoting myself here because I just did a KM ITF with my newly-respecc'd DP/Martial blaster. I finished soooooo many bosses with a Ki Push + Executioners Shot which landed while they were in the air (or flying over the bridge into the chasm below) and it was enough to make me just gawk with a grin on my face. Again, two powers, not just one which defeats the theme of this thread, but OMG so stylish. Even more satisfying if you did a Burst of speed to the enemy with Ki Push pre-queued to land once you arrived and THEN one-shotted the remainder of their health while they were still flying backwards. So, so much fun.

a Stormies drug of choice!

I should also point out that I’ve learned a BUNCH of game mechanics simply through MIDS. During the “dark years” MIDS (old MIDS) would often be my idle time waster as I’d try different slotting strategies/power selections/pool selections and then use the various MIDS settings like “show values when attacked.” That’s how I sort of discovered how much more potent a Stalker could be than even a Scrapper using the same powersets from a ST DPS perspective, but also how much less +DEF you have than you think out of stealth/hide. Mids wasn’t/isn’t always correct in its values, but it really helps to understand what’s happening with your build in certain situations or versus certain critter attack types. It’s not a replacement for playing the game, but it certainly is a valuable tool for simulating a build. Of course, with the way the test server works, I don’t know why more people don’t just take their MIDS builds straight there, kit them out, and test them ‘live.’ But once you’ve sort’ve mastered MIDS, you find that theory-crafting is kind of a fun mini-game unto itself.

Ive seen several BAF’s where its apparent you have multiple griefers, generally either on SG affiliation or all part of same SG.

I cannot recommend Storm/Storm for anything other than the visual fx the two generate. I can’t even really recommend Storm Blast on a Corruptor. That’s saying something since Storm Summoning is my favorite powerset in the entire game and I’ve played it on every single AT with every single powerset combo available….including Storm/Storm on a Corruptor. It’s just not a strong blast set.

Sorry to necro an older topic, but I wish upon whatever star you want that at some point before this game dies for good, we are given a simple toggle in options to “Change KB to KD.” I don’t think it’s needed to go the other way (KD to KB), but it sucks to be forced to use a slot to get the the KB to KD “luxury” feature. I get that was likely easier to program for a whole host of reasons, but it irritates me so much that I’ve just avoided using KB-oriented powersets. I never use normal bullets on any of my DP players. I’ve not played an Energy blast powerset since Live, etc etc. No player should ever be forced to adjust their playstyle to accomdate mine. That’s why we have the Null the Gull nullifiers for Group Fly, the prompts for teleport, etc etc. Do I think I’ll ever get my wish….no. But I wish it nonetheless.

Re: Crey, I see they were buffed in I27/P3 back in 2021. So long ago I really didn’t notice anything changing “recently.” Re: Arachnos; i can see in the patch notes they removed the auto hit of Scramble Thoughts/Brain and some other Arachnos adjustments. That seems like more of an advantage when fighting them now vs prior, but your mention of CC and relying on positional DEF seems to me to overlook the Defense Type vs Defense positional roll checks adjustment that was made some time ago. That’s why I now try to slot my DEF based AT’s for S/L/R or S/L/M whenever possible since critters now effectively have a better chance to hit me through my defenses otherwise.

To each their own. I found that their transformations makes me want to target them as priority, and it finally forced me to create some binds to ensure I kept them on their back during the fight. So for me at least, with most of my builds, it's -added- excitement, not added boredom. But again, YMMV.

Aye, it sure would be an entirely different gaming experience just playing right now with SO’s. I’ve done it exactly one time on a Tanker (which is already pretty durable) and wouldn’t call that fun in the least bit. Would be even worse if your experience was only SO’s and you didn’t understand the now 20+ year old Enhancement Diversification changes. But agreed, without a posted build, we can only theorize what “their experience” is contextually based upon.

Wow, I didn’t even realize that Arachnos and Crey had been buffed in Page 7 as well….or did this come much earlier? I guess I just haven’t noticed anything different about them recently. Arachnos have always been problematic for -some- builds, even builds that otherwise can take just about anything PvE has to throw at them. Their ranged debuffs hurt.

Second this, pretty good combo, and for me it fit the theme I was trying to rep. And although you asked for Blaster secondaries, I have to give a huge shout out to my Seismic/Storm/Dark Corruptor. Once I experienced Seismic that way I pretty much retired my Seismic blaster. Like PB&J.

I’m not opposed to procc’ing -some- attacks, but I’ve seen blaster builds on here that procc’d out -every- or even -most- attacks. I’ve had friends who complained about their blasters’ survivability and when I asked to see their builds, they literally had every attack filled with proc’s and hardly any set bonuses. Just because you can slot a Proc doesn’t mean you always should, relative to survivability goals at least.

Exactly this. I just did a respec on an old blaster build and ended up with 8 attacks all six slotted for max damage -and- still achieved S/L/E/N/R soft capped defense. In fact unless you just are procc’ing all your attacks (which is a questionable tactic for Blasters) you don’t have to just choose one or the other.

I've continued playing past the changes to these critter groups, and while yes I've noticed they present more challenges than they used to, I think that's sort of the reason they were given more offensive capabilities. Overwhelmingly, Radio missions in PI are COT, Council and/or Carnival. They were farm missions. Since it's pretty obvious the HC Dev team wants to curb farming (likely for longevity reasons), it makes sense they'd buff up the critters. And bluntly, I'd rather they -always- buff up the critters than swing the nerf bat at the players because we have full control mission difficulty settings. But to somewhat look at the world through your lenses, I pulled one of my oldest HC toons, a DP/Martial blaster, out of mothballs. I did a respec on it since most of its powers had outdated slotting and/or I'd just flat out used a weaker build. The new build is S/L/E/N/R softcapped, and since it's a retired 50, I had Clarion for my Destiny. Everything else is heavily 6-slotted for damage output, both primary and secondary, and high recharge/accuracy. I set myself up for +4/x8 and start soloing Radios in PI. Council, COT, Carnies....just took every mission offered. In 15 missions, I came -close- to death one time. Definitely walked away from many spawns at half health, and Preventative Med +Absorb proc went off a bunch of times as I'd get a beatdown from a spawn or multiple bosses at once. I never dropped it to +3, and I made it a point to not use Hybrid or Judgement. It's just not an issue if you have a well slotted toon and when faced with overwhelming odds not in your favor, learn to use basic stuff like strategic retreats, pulling, jousting, etc. And if I ever did run into a situation where I couldn't handle the mission, I always had the option to reset it at +3/x7 or whatever. Didn't have to do that, but I could have. So while definitely more challenging, not impossible.

There was a time when building for ranged defense+offense on a blaster was pretty much the risk-free way to play. Hoverblasting entered the lexicon and stayed there for a long, long time. I still see some people playing that way and it’s neither right nor wrong, but an effective playstyle if you want to dish out damage and take little in return. But many blasters, myself included, play blasters -specifically- because we like the innate risk associated with being up close and personal and having extremely good attacks. Kill or be killed, go big or go home (er…hosp it I mean). With so many IO sets allowing me to play a blaster with S/L/R softcapped, there’s no reason to limit yourself to a single playstyle unless you just -prefer- that playstyle. Range is effective, but I’m not sure it’s the most efficient way to play the AT. Just one of many. And depending on your powerset, it may be really sub-optimizing your overall capabilities. One reason this game is still being played almost 20 years after it’s initial release…..there’s no “one size fits all” in the game itself, let alone each of the AT’s and the powerset selection/slotting for each.

I will admit that Ki Push coupled with an immediate follow-up from Executioner’s Shot (or Ki > Storm Kick > Executioner’s Shot) is one of the most satisfying -sequences- of animation out there. Dripping style points. But I still think Soul Storm looks so much more like a stage act than Ki Push by itself. Sorry, not sorry…..