Redlynne

Level 50: Alpha Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Judgement Void Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Interface Diamagnetic Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Lore Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally Level 50: Destiny Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Hybrid Assault Radial Embodiment These days, I've evolved my Ninja/Time build a bit beyond what is found in that 4.5 year old post. I'm also playing on a different server, so you won't find me in-game here on Homecoming. Simplest thing I can say is: Take all of your Ninja Primary powers except Aimed Shot and Smoke Bomb (put the Overwhelming Force KB > KD proc in Genin!) (4 slot ATOs in Jounin and Oni). Take all of your Time Secondary powers (build for SLOW rather than HOLD, trust me). Take Hasten from the Speed pool (this makes Farsight and Chrono Shift perma). Take all 3 Leadership toggles (this makes more of a difference than you might expect). Take Stealth or Vengeance (either one) as a One Slot Wonder™ mule for Luck of the Gambler to get extra global recharge (if you can spare the power picks). That will leave you with 3 power picks remaining for customization of the build (4 if you don't take Stealth or Vengeance). With enough global recharge going, Snap Shot will recharge in less than 1 second (I've got mind down around 0.6s), so you can weave it around other attacks (Fistful of Arrows, Time Crawl, Time Stop, etc.) and (almost) never be without an attack (of some variety) recharged and ready for use. Proc monster Time Stop with damage procs as a "heavy hitter" attack. Do not slot any recharge into Time Stop ... let your global recharge buffing carry the load of making Time Stop recharge fast enough. Get in the habit of casting Time Crawl+Time Stop (in that order) for maximum Hold mag + maximum Recharge debuffing + maximum Damage. Works like a single target NUKE that recharges in under 10 seconds. Get used to living in Bodyguard Mode and thinking of yourself and your Ninjas as an attacking SWARM, rather than as a collection of individuals (who just happen to be fighting together). Your Ninjas will "inherit" the effects of your Alpha, Interface and Hybrid (if toggled on when the Ninjas get summoned). T4 Alpha Intuition Radial "does more" for you AND your Ninjas than any other alpha slot option available to a Ninja/Time Mastermind. T4 Interface Diamagnetic Core means that your Ninjas apply -ToHit and -Regeneration debuffing to THEIR $Targets, strengthening their layers of protection (especially if they get separated and aren't fighting many on one). T4 Hybrid Assault Radial means that your Ninjas can Double Hit for extra energy damage while the toggle is running. Just summon (or zone) while the toggle is active and your Ninjas inherit the ability to Double Hit for Energy Damage (6 PPM). When you toggle Assault back on, your Ninjas will resume Double Hitting for Energy Damage (no need to resummon). Try to pull aggro onto yourself (away from your Ninjas) at every opportunity while soloing. While in Bodyguard Mode any incoming damage you take will be shared out with your Ninjas (within Supremacy Range). If they're all within Temporal Mending radius, you can PBAoE Heal away that incoming damage, MASSIVELY multiplying the amount of damage that you can "soak up" when needed. Correspondingly, it will always be best for you to pull aggro from range using one of your own attacks, rather than sending the Ninjas forward into melee. Make your Foes fight on YOUR GROUND (away from their friends) rather than on THEIR GROUND (near their friends), in case of runners.

Ninja/Time /mic drop

The best answer is ... IT DEPENDS. Some powers lend themselves better to frankenslotting than others ... typically because the set options are "lackluster" or otherwise Do Not Support™ what you want a particular power to actually DO for you. I, myself, no longer play on the Homecoming server, but there are a few powers in my own Ninja/Time MM build that strongly lend themselves in favor of frankenslotting rather than going for pure set builds, just for the sake of sets. I'll defer my choices for Minion Powers for question 3, below and simply highlight my thought process for this question in other contexts, which you can then proliferate conceptually to other uses as a framework for how to answer question 1 on a case by case basis. CONE ATTACKS I have become a big proponent of Cones, as opposed to Target AoEs, for one very simple reason ... you can enhance the range of a Cone, which increases the area/volume that it affects. As a rule of thumb, a +50% Range enhancement to a Cone will effectively 2x the "area" (triangle) that the Cone can inflict damage into. This has the side effect of making the Cone "wider" at the far end, making it easier to catch "more $Targets" spread farther apart when attacking using a Cone from long(er) ranges. My go to frankenslotting for Cone attacks, is this: Level 8: Fistful of Arrows (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27+5 (9) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 20 (11) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 20 (25) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range: Level 50+5 (34) Hamidon Origin: Centriole Exposure (Accuracy/Range) (34) Hamidon Origin: Centriole Exposure (Accuracy/Range) This specific frankenslotting WORKS for any Cone Damage attack power. The range boost it yields is considerable(!) while also enhancing accuracy, damage and endurance reduction at the same time. The -Resist Debuff and the Positron Damage Proc yield remarkably advantageous throughput, especially when "shooting into traffic" at a reasonably rapid rate of fire. On my own Ninja/Time MM build, the completed build yields a recharge time for Fistful of Arrows that is only slightly longer than the animation time for Aimed Shot, so as far as MM personal attacks go I only need to make use Aimed Shot+Fistful of Arrows on repeat to start having a pretty respectable output and effect on whatever is "in front of me" when fighting either solo or participating in the chaos of iTrials. The reason why this particular frankenslotting "works" while a "pure set" of inventions would not is because NONE of the sets (even Rolling Barrage) puts any kind of privilege on enhancing the range of a set into the enhancements that actually make up the set itself. For Cones, I want the "reach out and spank you" power of enhanced range. With sufficient range enhancement, most Cones can be given comparable reach (almost 80 ft) to most single target attack powers ... which has HUGE implications for tactical positioning and ranging relative to Foes. So frankenslotting "does something that SETS cannot" in this case ... and since that benefit is "worth more" to me as a Player than what the set enhancements and/or set bonuses bring to the table, that's what I use. PROC MONSTERing Another instance where frankenslotting is a superior choice to reaching for set bonuses is when the base power itself, without enhancement, yields an over 90% chance for procs. Level 20: Time Stop (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 31+5 (21) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold: Level 30 (21) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 20 (23) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 10 (23) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 10 (50) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 This is my slotting for the Hold power in Time Manipulation. As you can see, it's MOSTLY procs (5 out of 6 slots, 4 of which are damage procs). Here's what the proc chances (in my build) work out to be: Time Stop: Lockdown (2.5 PPM), Ghost Widow's Embrace (3.5 PPM), Neuronic Shutdown (3.5 PPM), Gladiator's Net (3.5 PPM), Unbreakable Contstraint (4.5 PPM) 2.5 * ((16 / ( 1 + 19.25 / 100 )) + 2.17) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) = 64.95% 3.5 * ((16 / ( 1 + 19.25 / 100 )) + 2.17) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) = 90% (Pre-clamp: 90.93%) 4.5 * ((16 / ( 1 + 19.25 / 100 )) + 2.17) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 0 * (11 * 0 + 540) / 30,000))) = 90% (Pre-clamp: 116.91%) So as you can see, the damage proc chances are "quite high" per proc slotted. This turns Time Stop into power that CAN do damage, but only via procs. As far as Incarnates (such as Interface) are concerned, Time Stop is not a power that does damage "natively" and thus it does not proc Interface. However, Time Stop IS a Mez power, so there are potential benefits when synergized with Hybrid: Control, for example. Another example of this that I have in my build is this: Level 35: Slowed Response (A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50+5 (36) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27+5 (36) Shield Breaker - Chance for Lethal Damage: Level 10 (37) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 10 (37) Touch of Lady Grey - Chance for Negative Damage: Level 21 Same basic thinking behind the choices here ... and this is how the proc chances compute: Slowed Response: Shield Breaker (3.5 PPM), Achilles' Heel (3.5 PPM), Touch of Lady Grey (3.5 PPM) 3.5 * ((90 / ( 1 + 59.11 / 100 )) + 2.27) / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 25 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 30,000))) = 90% (Pre-clamp: 90.02%) per $Target This makes an otherwise "unremarkable power" that doesn't do anything especially useful (Foe -Defense, -Resist Debuffing) into something "respectable" to toss into the mosh pit. FRANKENSLOTTING SETS Sometimes, your optimal use of slots involves frankenslotting sets for a particular combined purpose for that specific power, rather than reaching for global set bonuses. In those cases, the global set bonuses you can get are merely "bonus" rather than the purpose of the exercise. Level 38: Chrono Shift (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge: Level 27+5 (39) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge: Level 27+5 (39) Regenerative Tissue - Heal/Recharge: Level 27+5 (39) Regenerative Tissue - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 27+5 That specific combination of slots yields a "respectable" amount of recharge enhancement (the primary consideration) while also boosting both the heal/regeneration and endurance/recovery components of the power. Performance Shifter 2-set = improves your Movement by 7.5%. Regenerative Tissue 2-set = improves your Movement by 6%. So in this instance, the set bonuses are "unnecessary, but not unwanted" since they're more just "extra benefits" of the slotting, rather than the primary purpose of choosing that specific slotting. And let me tell you, being able to boost the Regeneration value on Ninja Pets makes a pretty big difference in their survival when the rest of your build stacks up to providing them with NO GET HITSTU!! levels of +Defense. Sure, they're going to take SOME hits and SOME damage will leak through their protection ... but with enough +Regeneration in the mix, they aren't going to need AS MUCH active healing to prevent them from crumpling into the ground. And what's true for MM Pets is also true for MM Servants Teammates and Leaguemates that you're running content with. +Regeneration, especially when stacked (see Regeneration powerset) can be remarkably powerful in the right contexts. These are my choices for my own Ninja/Time MM build. Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Ion Radial Final Judgement Level 50: Spectral Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Robotic Drones Core Superior Ally Level 50: Rebirth Radial Epiphany Level 50: Support Radial Embodiment Level 50: Socket Radial Flawless Genesis T4 Intuition Radial synergizes TOO WELL with Time Manipulation. T4 Ion Radial can "chain around corners" which does not limit it to Line of Sight ONLY. The Hold from Radial can also relieve pressure for a "tide turning" difference, since the "breathing room" can be advantageous during Mothership Raids in the Rikti War Zone. T4 Spectral Radial is going to seem controversial (because it's not Degenerative or Reactive) ... but do not let appearances fool you. This (specific) choice is build transformative, particularly in context with T4 Socket Radial. A (75+10)=85% chance for Negative Energy DoT ticks (which cancel on MISS) is GIGANTIC for damage throughput from a Mastermind ... especially if you've taken 1 single target and 1 multi-target personal attack from your MM primary (as I have). EVERYTHING you hit with an attack power that NATIVELY does damage (procs do NOT count for this!) can proc Interface damage ... and everything YOUR PETS (MM and Lore!) can hit with an attack power that NATIVELY does damage (procs do NOT count for this!) can ALSO proc Interface damage. In other words, my MM Personal Attacks and my Ninja Attacks and my Lore Pet Attacks can ALL proc Interface DoT ticks ... and with a 15% chance to miss, that adds up to a LOT of extra bonus damage! However, that's ALSO "a lot of procs" going off from my own and my Ninjas (and Lore Pets) attacking ... and there is a STACK LIMIT on DoTs of various types from ALL sources. In other words, if I had chosen Degenerative or Reactive, my DoTs would be "competing for limited DoT slots" on everything I attack (and probably getting overwritten by everyone else around me who are ALSO using Degenerative or Reactive for their Interface slot choice). The practical upshot is that by choosing Spectral, in iTrials I'm basically "the ONLY ONE" who is using Spectral, so I have "no competition" for my DoTs "sticking" to my $Targets for their entire damage throughput ... meaning that I do "more damage" with Spectral than I would by "following the herd" into using Degenerative or Reactive. The Immobilize effect is more or less a "nice to have when it happens" kind of "side effect" of using Spectral, which just so happens to be beneficial for my Ninjas (so they need to do less chasing of runners). When my MM plus all my Ninjas "unload a response" into a single $Target (because Bodyguard), it's not uncommon for that $Target to wind up Immobilized (temporarily) just from the sheer rate of fire that I and my Ninjas can animate into that #Target in just a few seconds. CHUCK LOTS OF DICE™ like that and you'll start getting even low proc chances stacking up into useful quantities of "it might happen" ... and all you need is a few seconds for a pack of Ninjas to "Ginsu" a $Target into being a faceplant. T4 Robotic Drones Core might seem like an especially odd choice, until I explain that my Ninja/Time MM build is Technology Origin. But even then, I know that there are other "better" (on spreadsheet) choices for Lore Pets. In this particular instance, my choice is driven by the fact that the Robotic Drones have CONE ATTACKS on reasonably short recharge times (which cannot be buffed or enhanced, because Pets) which also include -Regeneration Debuffing ... and the Robotic Drones do not do Knockback (which Polar Lights do). With my completed Ninja/Time MM build, I can (very effectively!) "solo" a bunker door in the Behavioral Adjustment Facility iTrial without any assistance from anyone else (and even dispatch runners that escaped from other bunkers during the phase!). I need the Core (2 attacker) Robotic Drones for the 5 minute duration (same as the Resistance escape phase during the BAF iTrial). The Cone attacks that these Lore Pets do ALSO gain the benefits of Interface: Spectral + Genesis: Socket, so those Cone attacks are stacking on YET MORE DoTs to "burn them all" to the ground (and helping to add Immobilize procs in the process, because, Spectral). T4 Rebirth Radial certainly seems like a peculiar choice for a MM with Pets (and Ninjas in particular). I originally went with T4 Clarion Radial (for the "power boost" and +range), but Clarion turned out to be remarkably superfluous when running iTrials in Leagues. Eventually I switched to Rebirth Radial (for +regeneration rather than +HP) and noticed that it was making an astonishingly large difference in group survival rates (not just my own Pets specifically). It's also been key to boosting my path for Healing Badges. The amount of +regeneration that Rebirth Radial adds is NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT and will often times be both sufficient to avoid needing to resummon Pets (except against One Hit Kills) while also making EVERYONE who gets buffed "sturdier" for the 2 minute duration. In most cases, the +regeneration winds up yielding "more HP" for Foes to chew through than the +HP alternative would have ... because +regeneration just "keeps on working" for you (until you're defeated). The "security blanket" feeling with Rebirth Radial is extremely difficult for me to say no to. T4 Support Radial just makes "life better" in a lot of ways. When it's UP, it's basically a 2x Maneuvers boost to Defense (stacked on top of everything else) ... AND ... it buffs accuracy, damage, defense and special(! see: Power Boost) of all Allies within an 80ft PBAoE by +8%. That basically means that even with a 40-50% uptime, Support Radial is "yielding more overall throughput" in League play (iTrials, Mothership Raids, etc.) than even Assault can deliver ... because it's not just buffing ME (and my Pets), it's buffing EVERYONE AROUND ME the same way that Maneuver, Assault and Tactics do from the Leadership Pool (plus adding a mini-Power Boost effect into the bargain!). T4 Socket Radial carries over the same mentality of "make the DoTs COUNT" from Interface: Spectral into the Level 44- Exemplar regions of the game ... and it can make Level 1-9 content feel almost trivial as a result. The added DoT can pretty SEVERELY multiply your damage throughput onto (lower level) $Targets, such that you need to spend less time and endurance animating attacks, improving your offensive tempo and reducing the time that you yourself are vulnerable to being attacked (because Defeat Is The Ultimate Debuff). That's my mentality regarding Incarnate slotting, but as always ... Your Mileage May Vary. The Pet Buff Procs basically "modify the MM" with a PBAoE effect that only buffs Pets. The radius for this buff is your Supremacy radius. Point being that the Pet procs don't "emanate" from the Pets themselves, but rather from the MM. If the Pets "run off" and leave Supremacy range, they stop getting the Pet buff procs. As for slotting of the Pet power themselves, here is what I've settled upon: Level 1: Call Genin (A) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage: Attuned (3) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Attuned (3) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Attuned (5) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown: Attuned (7) Call to Arms - Defense Bonus Aura for Pets: Level 10 (50) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up: Level 50 Level 12: Call Jounin (A) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage: Attuned (13) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Attuned (13) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance: Attuned (15) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Recharge/Pet +AoE Defense Aura: Attuned (15) Superior Witchcraft - Accuracy/Recharge: Attuned (17) Superior Witchcraft - Chance for Res Debuff: Attuned Level 26: Oni (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage: Attuned (27) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Endurance: Attuned (27) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Attuned (29) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Endurance/Pet +Resist +Regen: Attuned (29) Edict of the Master - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 27 (31) Edict of the Master - Defense Bonus: Level 15 That Superior Witchcraft proc in Jounin can proc on almost every attack that the Jounin make: Call Jounin: Superior Witchcraft (6 PPM) Basic: Gambler's Cut (-DEF, 3s recharge) Basic: Sting of the Wasp (-DEF, 5s recharge) Basic: Caltrops (Slow, 30s recharge) Train: Soaring Dragon (-DEF, Knockback, 9s recharge) Zen: Golden Dragonfly (-DEF, Knockup, 12s recharge) Zen: Blinding Powder (-To-hit, 120s recharge) Which means that in actual gameplay, I'm seeing A LOT of Pentacle icons showing up on $Targets. However, even better yet is the fact that each of the two Jounin Ninjas are considered DIFFERENT CASTERS ... meaning that the Witchcraft procs they inflict CAN STACK onto $Targets. And remember, I've got -Resistance procs slotted into my Fistful of Arrows MM primary attack AND in my Slowed Response MM secondary attack ... ALL of which CAN STACK for some pretty Cruel And Brutal Resistance Debuffing™ that helps to make even "hard" targets melt faster (once I've joined the fray with my Ninjas). The Overwhelming Force proc in Genin gives them Knockdown capability AT RANGE (with Shuriken and Exploding Shuriken) and IN MELEE ... which makes a pretty hefty difference in the amount of damage that can be directed at them or at my MM. Besides, it's fun seeing the 0.5% proc chance for a nuclear mushroom cloud go off MULTIPLE TIMES in rapid succession! So in my estimation, 4-slot set + 2 extra makes for a really nice "optimal mix" of slotting in MM primaries that do not have the benefit of a 4th "Pet slotting" power available. Let's just say that +Level Shifts help you AND your Pets, and leave it at that.

Sheeple

You have found a reason to use Teleport ...

Agreed. Mercs need Dev Love.

Try Energy Aura or Willpower paired with Kinetic Melee. You can thank me later.

My sincere wish for Serum (for the Mastermind) would be that it becomes a 300s duration on a 300s recharge power that instead applies a Grant Power effect to the Medic ... so that it's the Medic who is handing out the Serum to all the Mercenaries to buff them (think Protector Bots and their Force Field bubbles). That way, it's kind of a "Medic Approved" buff to all of your Mercenaries that is doled out by your Medic along with the Stimulant and so on. That way, it's relatively fire and forget for the Player to deal with. You basically just delegate the distribution of the Serum to your Medic to give to all the Soldiers, Spec Ops and Commando.

Mew C M Say it out loud to get the verbal pun that isn't obvious enough when it's in writing...

It's a major stretch for me to reach that interpretation. If you hadn't mentioned it, that isn't what I would have been seeing.

That usually means App Store if doing it as a standalone app. Just use the web version on your iPhone. So long as Safari can deal with it, you'll have it available for iPhone ...

It's a huge wall of text because ... well ... there's a lot to unpack and explain if you want to figure out what I do (and why) so as to adapt the scheme to your own purposes. So the RTFM factor is kind of unavoidable, but I'd like to think that I give enough info to reverse engineer what I'm doing so that you can convert what you need to your own Mastermind. 💪

Fair.

The real problem with Mercenaries is that it was probably the FIRST Mastermind powerset that was built. Full stop. That means that what Cryptic Studios had "available" for being repurposed into the Mercenaries themselves was OLD LEGACY powers that had been used by Assault Rifle for Blasters and were basically the Tommygun attack powers used by a lot of Family and Mooks NPCs. Later on, Assault Rifle for Blasters (and Defenders, eventually) got a "tune up" to be less stupid with their animation times and recharge and so on ... but that update to the tuning of powers never extended to Mercenaries, which had to (polite cough) ... soldier on ... (ahem!) with their poor game design after everything else that came after them were designed much better. So the Mercs' attack powers are all OLD LEGACY powers that were meant for NPCs, where no one is going to mind if they underperform which have never been given a balancing pass to bring them up to par with the rest of the Mastermind primaries. In other words, the real problem with Mercenaries can basically laid at the feet of being first NEVER getting adjusted to match everyone else ... leaving them stuck with obsolete antiquated terrible attack powers that work "fine" for Foe NPCs (who tend to be more numerous so as to "make it up in volume" for their lack of individual firepower) but which land on absolutely abysmal breakpoints (that all break unfavorably away from Mercenaries being useful/effective in combat) ... and they have never even once received a balance pass to bring them up to snuff. Cryptic Studios never did it. Paragon Studios never did it. ... and now it's up to Homecoming to finally get around to doing it when they can find the ever scarce resource of Developer Time™ to do it. Personally speaking, I'm of the opinion that twiddling some of the recharge times on the OLD LEGACY obsolete powers along with basically DOUBLING the base damage of every damaging power that Mercenaries have(!) ought to be sufficient to bring them up to par with the other Mastermind primary powersets. That way, you would only be editing the excel spreadsheet parameters that govern what they're "allowed to do" rather than trying to reprogram all of their animations and deal with the huge can of worm that THAT would open for things to start breaking all over the place. Yes, it would mean that the OLD LEGACY obsolete animations would be kept, but at least they wouldn't all be AS SUBSTANDARD as they currently are. Point being, if you can "better balance" the animation to recharge times for the Mercenaries attack powers, so as to reduce idle time waiting for attacks to finish recharging, while simultaneously increasing the damage that each power delivers ... that then would cause a marked enough improvement in the damage output of Mercenaries to keep them from gnawing a hole through the bottom of the barrel like they've been doing ever since the release of City of Villains. After that, you basically just need to fix Serum into not being a Joke/Trap power that's a complete and utter waste of a power pick ... and you'll be good to go. I'm thinking that would be the simplest, cheapest and perhaps most effective way to "fix" Mercenaries so they aren't weighed down as badly by the legacy of their abysmally bad game design parameters that they got stuck with in the first place which have NEVER BEEN MOVED. Is it a "perfect" solution? No. Would it be an "adequate" solution? I'd like to think it would be ...