Dixa

stalker staff is the best staff unless you are going for a specific build on a tanker however dark there are tradeoffs. you lose death shroud and cloak of darkness for hide and shadow dweller. so no pbaoe damage aura, and an auto power +def all that is a little over 2% less defense than cloak of darkness. all other powers come later. you won't have staffs form of the soul's -39% end cost like you would on an at that gets the forms. while staff has good aoe I find the single target to lack compared to street justice and street justice has pretty damned good aoe too. but if you got a theme, go for it.

Doesn't matter. Not like you're going to take the MM primary attacks anyway. yeah. but...I don't see this happening unless the created pets pull from and only use a specific set of abilities. being able to have a couple of sapper minions or zeus titan bosses would be a bit gamebreaking.

Oh, I realize that, getting others to realize that is the hard part. I tested out Beast/Kin, and Thugs/Rad, Bots/Rad and Thugs/Traps again. Bots/Rad was my favorite and seemed most effective. I'll just have to deal with the knockback somehow, and keep an eye on the pets blocking doors - oddly I found more issue getting past the thugs for some reason than the bots. I did take mace mastery and the immobilize-slow web grenade, but it didn't seem to be immobilizing and stopping the knockback. I'll have to do some more tests with the web grenade. I know I can eventually get kb-kd Ios (someone says OF changes it globally? I'll have to try that too.) I was wondering if power boost affects anything from rad, like AM or LF? I tried it, but couldn't tell. I know it only works on the toggles a few seconds. It's been a long time since I really got into rad, and was wondering the best order of debuffs too. controlling how/when/direction of your bots kb while on a hectic team would be frustrating. sudden acceleration io is not unique. slap one in the assault and tier 1 bots.

I find boxing exhausting, but if im going to do it it will be with a brute and support characters to make the brute unkillable.

the most useful primaries to your team are ones that don't knockback or that you fixed their knockback with enhancements, don't block doors and don't block players the most useful secondaries are ones that are mobile and provide support to the team. this opens up a lot of options. ff? I would go with cold instead if this is a teaming mm. more team support sonic, thermal, time, nature, kinetics I consider the premiere mm teaming secondaries that can work with just about any team comp. the other secondaries have a problem or three that prevent them from being on the same level or are better served coming from a different at's modifier.

building for resists is ideal for demons and necro building for resists is not ideal for thugs, since the t1 thugs have zero resists to begin with. thugs/sonic can work, but you will hit many walls and difficulties. an mm power combination works best when you are working with the strengths of your primary and not against it.

so beasts are fine. yes. but please do not think for a moment they are the killing machines the other primaries are. beasts was very new to the game before shutdown and it needed tweaks and balancing that never happened. the biggest issue is that they do not have enough attacks and have a near 33% gap in their attach chain where they are doing no damage. this is bad, especially if you want to push to harder difficulties as attacking that infrequently will not break regen of some of the tougher bosses, eb's or av's. beasts work. they are fun - but how an mm performs in their 20 or 30's is nothing like how the sets start to perform in their 40's and endgame with and without incarnates unless you really do never move on from 1/0 difficulty. enjoy the set, but temper it with reality please and anecdotes about how the set is fine because you have an alt in the 20's is just not helpful in general. at level 50: t1 pets - 11.21% melee/ranged/aoe defense 18.68% resist s/l and cold t2 pets - 12.45% melee/ranged/aoe defense 29.88% resist s/l cold t3 pet - same as tier 2 with io's (defense only) ti pets - 21.21% melee and ranged, 36.21% aoe t2 pets - 22.45% melee and ranged, 37.45% aoe t3 pets - 22.45% melee and ranged, 37.45% aoe with saturated fortify pack (4 stacks) t1 pets - 30.21% melee and ranged, 45.21% aoe t2 pets - 31.25% melee and ranged, 46.45% aoe t3 pets - 31.25% melee and ranged, 46.45% aoe this is a far better defensive base than thugs, bots or demons by far and may be why their damage output is as low as it is the various roars i'm not calculating because they do not have 100% uptime. I would not bother slotting the resist io's or even enhancing that defense in any of the pets. farsight without power boost will cap them which means you have patron pool options, although powerboosted farsight is good for teaming and scorpion shield allows some breathing room if you get debuffed as well as a buffer between fortify pack applications this is what I would probably do. maybe. it has enough recharge for nearly perma chrono shift and hasten, but I do find time to be extremely end hungry even with chrono shift going so I would prob still end up with ageless even though time is very vulnerable to cc. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1512;688;1376;HEX;| |78DA65944B6F125114C7EF65668A5068A994422D6FEDBB45A8EE4DFAC216A8686BD| |5554360DA4E521E2934D1A59FA21F4117C6A56DDC99F8FC04BE35BA736175E37383| |87397F818609E477E7BCCFB9F74EE6E6BCE37EF2F605215D733BB96A752393ABD6F| |4DDA2512A6899DC969157043D56FA875A9A8DD5BD62B15C8ACDEA2482C7AD489B7E| |766F7333B666147552968CCADE4EAE66944BA2375B2EEFC4D27AAEA0EF56B78D8AD| |37C5F34B6B66B4669CB6EBEAD5674BDE080A256D2AB55FF42C5C8C7DAA2677279FD| |7F561F55364EFF85C6C27CEA9A784E4527546179065E574DAA57C1398BC9AE4FAC7| |FE969FA4A71479AB2D17BCC57A493AC53650ABA4BCC8934737A05CC305F938FC23E| |8AF200B90E98F687E0213349756B6C2BB48830657D346EAB99B46EB17A38E6897ED| |0C57C43396CF0B34DB2DF12C5EAC60CBA6F70AF8E35709DD9730DFC4CF903AA707D| |21F3515548CAE9443C679D1EF19632F4225AEF3C57EB5A604616996792E045E6F41| |273992AE9836F1F3A3869077B98FD4EB09B39E060BEA3BC6EF8BAFF72BCF04FF007| |F2FF027F33A7FE3015EAC283C97966787707BCD2EC74C2C754C9C60B1B2F6AF361B| |A3E4C3745F50FB28D3638CBB14F3D22BA894F39AEFF09F898197CC17C4FF50F21FE| |10E207113F8CF851AA21C0363280DD0B8269CA1DC24E8470220E287414A7309AE57| |A4E5F06AF80ABD88B35E647AA63183EC338B9235910277564E5F8893E72083186BA| |C650CF387848354CA2AF49F43585BEA6D0D707CA19C3DEC5A462CEFBAC055440959| |9D0C02EA69B661247EE38FA4ECC30FD6AF386D2AF713A273A24F10E49A24372AE43| |72BE43926E482424369E65A66555CFAACD2F8290A687CDD5BCEFF5AF76D2C25B4E7| |3F5DF5A3229D7F1ED5896E6BD3B6AB71F63FBEF2D9945EE7305E361718C29BA2209| |B6A9EFB7ADEF465BEBA4B7B5FE07CB0EE8CF| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| temporal selection is an optional power. I was being lazy here. I would actually recommend swapping it out for a travel power. the 18% dmg boost it gives is minor for your pets and they don't benefit from the recharge bonus.

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1521;702;1404;HEX;| |78DA75934B4F135114C7EFED4CC1166A8BA59447A10F1EA5524AABEE4D0025910E3| |4BCD45533690798A4B48442A2EEFC0A6E88313E168AB271ABF1ADF1F93174E70235| |06A3AEEA61FE276D43E3A4CD6FCEB9E7F1BFF7CCD52E4DB63E9CBA7A5A48CF44412| |F97B39A5EDE3436D6CC62DEAEE92B664E114238278DB552F18A5928E8CD64866B31| |D9F9AD355A4A58016C98C595FA88F1ADE5E5C4C22A597A213BA7E74D7DD32C15853| |B532A15126943CF1B1BE55573DD65D967CD95D54D2AE0B4ACF975C3C8B760A170B0| |1238B36EE61275C5353D67B0E4CB9D242D46FFEB1EC14FC52E266C42A45461DB27B| |397785EB56C7591F941B1D8F40E7CE2AAE6AA625A622D0D1ED19833A073167C4A39| |12398AECA3B7A82A5A23E0B130D81E049F51ACC2F595698E9D018FCE3235D093066| |FD07EECC811F6B0B07AB6D11C9AADA6155BB30F3ABADBC190077C4EBD1CACCBC1BA| |3CFFD175937AB4F099B57CC65974FC44AF8E8B38ABCE05E612D87D01F4921617B4D| |85D7771DE817B60DF0EF33E187A00F6EF822F48A39BF7E6DE43DF5BA4A58D75B77D| |1596BEC0179B35BF815FD034BA8FFC9794EF45ACF4FE457EDF6F50922E1FD7F6752| |34F219F1F5AA5FF04E2FA0F1C54FB36F5EDE233E8FA88B5D05B30FC9EF989B9839C| |FE71E878453A7AB857CF087AA9D4AB9767D4CBB319E2D90CF1CCEE50CF20E70579B| |6AFA95684BF9108EB1EE09A436C47D98E33DF50CE206B1F948AA5EDB88DA9305530| |6E07479BC0C78461E8548659578CF5C6586FEC0FEECF238A1D616D238BD87B3C038| |ECE8163F3606A018CD03924F81C12AC77EC101D1493E498246B48B186146B08A8D5| |BB493F7A6847873DC9064FAAC173B2C173AAC193AEF738B00FADE6AB64D4EA9D17D| |2CA7078AA37BBB2E7A45559BFFABDE691F21CEE5C7409FBFAD610FDA3E651E436BA| |3B43FC2530A3D7E09FF213105BD9A6AB90620DBB919A7FDA5B7BFF07980EF0DE| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| hell on earth 4 slot for 4 of the unique io's. the ato aura go into actual pets I find the best place to put the build up io is the t1 pets to help bump their damage up. you may be asking me why 6 slot tactics? gaussians 6 slot provides more defense than any other set in the game that is the only reason why. the build up proc in that set does nothing for mm's. demons run out of end quickly if you are not going with ageless. the slotting I have here allows me to use ageless or clarion or whatever (I usually still go with ageless cause I like limitless endurance but ymmv). actually even with this slotting the demon prince goes dry very quickly.

psi damage is heavily resisted end game and those mobs that resist it, resist a LOT of it.

I had a Thugs/Traps MM back in the day (my second-ever MM, actually), and the main issue with it is lack of healing. The best you can get is a Regeneration boost from Triage Beacon (which, to be fair, you get very early on), which doesn't always help in sustained fights. I always recommend that a thugs/traps mm grab aid other by level 8. once you have your ffg you will be pretty free to cast aid other (mostly on your suicidal arsonist). traps has little need for hasten and hell my original traps guide on the old forums didn't even have the fitness pool until I got so much global recharge from sets it was becoming an issue. thugs/traps real weakness is mobility. you all gotta be together - all the time and under that bubble. in my opinion, any /traps mm really needs to have team teleport and likely medicine pool and an aoe immob power. this really limits your customization options with pool powers.

when determining what goes well with what you have to look at the primaries strength. with thugs, their strength is in defense. the t1 thugs have 0 resistances. the t2 and boss thugs have average resistances. they get a hefty buff from maneuvers from the t2 bosses, and this is what you want to build upon. for this reason, any secondary that builds upon the defense granted by maneuvers is going to be superior than any that builds upon resists - unless you are a masochist who enjoys replacing pets every pack.

while I haven't imported this build yet, the best use of soul extraction is as a place to mule 4 of the 6 mastermind io's. the other two from the ato's would go into grave knights and zombies for set bonuses. when upgraded the ato's will max out your pets acc/dmg/end reduction with only 4 giving room to add things like damage procs or reducing annoying kb. this is why I consider necro, demon and thugs the premiere primaries for masterminds concerned with pet survivability and not wanting to replace their pets very often. all three sets have a power at level 18 that can take take both the regular mm and the recharge pet io uniques and honestly on their own don't benefit too much from additional slotting or enhancements. gang war is a great distraction but easily wiped out. hell on earth is really just a dmg buff for a demon as the imps it spawns are extremely weak (but do good damage). soul extraction is actually a decent power but relies on your pets dying and the surgeon general as warned that excessive pet deaths can lead to colo-rectal cancer.

I had nearly every mm power combo on live, at 50 and nearly all of them io out. And I’m sorry but poison is not on the same level as traps or time for dropping AV. You will frequently lose pets to one shots and spend a lot of time and endurance replacing them or being without while the power recharges. It’s good in a team and pvp but not solo and not on the level of other combinations possible.

you're never going to find the perfect mm build for all content. thugs and bots with traps, time and ff melt to mobs with tohit buffs and there is a mission in the maria Jenkins arc that is filled with mobs that debuff defense and have targeting drones. they actually killed my dark/staff tanker who is normally unkillable (it was set to 4/8 though). demons/thermal wrecks av's but on +3. even with perma -500% regen on a +4 they can't do enough damage to break the regen on nightstar without lore pets. on +3 she melts. so far none of the maria Jenkins av's have been a real issue. only issue would be a giant group of crey - too much energy damage. or a giant group of carnies - too much psi damage. I have tried and tried for years to find that perfect, can do it all setup and it just does not exist in this game especially for masterminds. but this demons/thermal is pretty close. I was playing with a demons/nature as that secondary only gives up a little bit by way of resists (like 4 points) to thermal, but the healing is not actually as good. regrowth takes 10s to do it's full healing vs. spamming warmth and cauterize. the absorb is good but it takes a lot of recharge just to get the cd to 1 minute and perma overgrowth is over 210% recharge needed which again is hard to do without sacrificing your defenses. it would be a better teaming combo cause forge sucks.

just an FYI but you are no longer auto granted the patron power pools.

I can have bruiser in a skirt?

that's the tradeoff for the aoe elec primary has. on the old thread though even those that "cheated" keeping mobs in range for against all odds didn't beat many times.

Advantage Bubbles and Cold, they can apply their defense buffs over distance and quickly. Not everyone or everything is in range when FS goes off. true but that's the teams problem. I tell 'em to gather for farsight. they don't pay attention. they can read chat from the hospital.

Checkout this one min video of the Soulbound BU proc. The little pink/purple circle, that looks like Super Reflex's Quickness symbol, is the BU buff icon. It occurs often, sometimes proccing twice in a short span for a double buff. geez you are having better rng with that than I am. I watched it for a while and saw like 2 procs a minute average.

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Use the command the default attack command aggressive and change it to defensive. what? the attack my target command immediately puts them into aggressive. can you edit the command? right click>edit

while yes, perf shifter and panacea do work in lifegiving spores and give that little spurt to whomever it procs on in the field, since the ppm changes for i24 it's not worth slotting them. for a power like spores the system will check once every 10 seconds and try to proc it once - and only once. on one target. it is EXTREMELY rare for it to proc on more than one target per 10 second tick. tested using thugs/nature and panacea (green number floats over head for a different value than spores so easty to tell)

put the proc in phantom army to make them knock things down. put sudden acceleration in the phantasm to make him stop knocking things around.

Call me a noob, but wtf is a crab mind? arachnos soldier at that went crab armor, took all the pets and made them perma. it's the most destructive force in the game and the most expensive thing to io out and sucks as all hell to level until you get to that point when not in a group. it's also one of the largest force mutipliers you can add to a group due to all of super high leadership toggles.

nothing was changed between i23 the last build on live to i25 that would have unseated street justice from the top spot. the only change that hosed most people were many io procs going from chance to ppm, including the stalker ato.