Redlynne

To be fair, all Controllers are "blasters that mez as a side effect" ... although some are better than others at it (blast vs mez mix). Depends on what you want to do. Debuff Them so as to Buff Us means that Kinetics is the smart play. You "steal" their power (and allegiance) to make it your own. Debuff Them (only) so as to make them defeat each other faster means that Trick Arrow starts pushing into the foreground, along with Poison. However, context matters for all of this. If the intention is to Team-8 with 7 other Controllers all the way to 50 and beyond, there's going to be "no shortage" of lockdown and Containment going on. It's going to be City of Statues all day long, just because of the sheer amount of mez getting tossed and stacked onto the bonfire of the vanities. Under those conditions, where Foes are "denied action" as a matter of routine, Confusion becomes a decent mitigation against alpha strike retaliation (as does AoE Hold powers) but rapidly loses its value when everything turns into City of Statues and it all devolves into a DPS Blasterfest. If Foes are hard control locked down as a matter of routine, then debuffing them to buff the Team-8 becomes a decent play to make, so Kinetics retains a lot of value (especially with Speed Boost making AoE control powers recharge so much faster!). If Foes are hard control locked down as a matter of routine, then debuffing them as hard as possible to make them more vulnerable to Team-8 damage output becomes a decent play to make, so Trick Arrow, Poison, Radiation and Dark start looking like favorable options for secondary. If Foes are hard control locked down as a matter of routine, but you want to still be doing debuffs to them and buffs to your Team-8 without relying on Foes to "steal" power from ... try Time Manipulation (with perma Hasten, perma Farsight and perma Chrono Shift) for a "self reliant" buff/debuff mix. Of course, the ultimate kick in the shins for a Team-8 of Controllers would be if they ALL take Maneuvers, Assault and Tactics in order to 8x stack those Leadership powers so as to ROFLstomp everything they encounter as a group. Key point being that as Mez gets stacked and hard control lockdown becomes less of an issue (because, Team-8 of Controllers) the importance and prominence of your choice of secondary will become increasingly apparent, which is where (damage and recharge) buffs to Team as well as resistance and regeneration debuffs to Foes starts to increase in value, so as to speed up the steamroller. The challenge then becomes ... how to deal with Scrapperlock ... or simply getting ahead of the group (or Going The Other Way™, deliberately or unwittingly) or otherwise getting separated from the Team-8 steamroller scenario. Having backup options for being able to solo when the Team-8 splits up is not a bad thing.

"It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion." "It is by the use of my powers that thoughts acquire speed, my Foes acquire purple bubbles, the bubbles become a plague upon my them. It is by my will alone that I set their minds in motion." - Mind/Kinetics Controller mantra "So, uh ... what kind of a controller are you?" { smirks } "I'm a Master Mind Controller ..."

I'm going to offer an option so radical that I'm assuming no one else here would reach for it. 🤔 MIND CONTROL And I can already hear the screaming from other forum regulars ... Mind Control DOESN'T HAVE ANY PET POWERS! 😠 To which I say ... you're wrong ... Mind Control has TWO PET POWERS(!) ... and it can make (temporary) pets of (almost) every Foe in the game! Ever used Confusion on the Banished Pantheon LTs who summon minions? Confuse them before they aggro and they'll summon minions and get into a fight with them! Ever used Confusion on Sky Raider Engineers? Confuse them before they aggro and they'll summon Force Field Generators that work FOR YOU! Ever used Confusion on Malta Sappers? Confuse them before they aggro and they'll sap your Foes FOR YOU! In other words, with Confusion (and Mass Comedy @ level 32) ... EVERY FOE IN THE GAME can be your "Pets" ... and they'll fight for you. You don't "summon" Pets like a Mastermind (or an Illusion Controller) ... you TURN your adversaries into your Pets. As a Mind Controller, you're playing a game of "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine too" rather than attempting to drag along an entourage of (perma) Pets. Now, granted, Illusion Control has a confuse power too, but it's single target only ... you don't get Mass Comedy for turning clusters of Foes into Confusion Pets. But a single target confusion power slotted with the Persuasive Confusion proc means that ALL opposition is vulnerable to "switching sides" and fighting for you. Mind Control stacks Mass Comedy on top of that. If you were really committed to the "confused Foes ARE PETS" interpretation (because you can't "direct traffic" the way a Mastermind can) you could even reach for World of Confusion in Psionic Mastery in order to "pull out all the stops" on being a Confused Pets Controller. And if everything around you either "is your Confuse Pet" (or is going to become your Confuse Pet, you just haven't gotten to them yet...) ... and if you're taking a "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine too" attitude about your build to its logical conclusion, then probably the most "maximizing" option of secondary is going to be ... Kinetics. Their power, is your power (and then some!). Their people ARE YOUR PEOPLE (they just need ... convincing ...). Whatever they can do ... they can do it FOR YOU. Seen from that perspective, Mind Control gets to make (temporary, disposable) "pets" out of every enemy group in the game (aggro free, unlike Plant Control) starting at Level 8 ... and then it just NEVER STOPS. 😱 What's mine is mine ... and what's yours is mine too. Think about it.

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. 💪