Hedgefund

These are just drive-by comments. Meaning not a thorough holistic review but just stuff I noticed at a glance. Artic Fog will serve you better with +Def slotting than a Res set. That's not to say don't sneak in some res IOs, but it should be enhanced to ED for Def (3-4 LOTGs, for example) The Panacea proc won't be helping you in FW. I think the proc will go off on the target (someone correct me if I'm wrong). A better choice - Preventative Medicine. The proc in FW WILL be affecting you in that case. I've never tried, but based on Fog's description, you can't use it with Stealth. I'd want the BU proc in Grave Knights. BU + Broadsword attacks sounds nice.

All the Kinetic buffs will affect pets, with the notable exception that SB won't provide +recharge. SB will affect their endurance and run speed. You mentioned Inertial Reduction. Though it will affect the henchies, that effect will be minimal since they already have a super jump ability. Take it if you want, but don't take it because you're expecting it to notably make your pets more mobile. I wouldn't dismiss the Beast attacks' utility. For one thing, they're very proc friendly. These attacks can be a legit source of your overall DPS. For another, and this may be more important, 2 of the attacks have -fly. Beasts chasing flyers... no bueno, this is where the absence of ranged attacks is really felt. Lastly, Repel with the kb-kd proc is actually pretty good, throw in the +recharge proc as well and it's no longer the easy choice to skip out of kin.

With Time, +Def unique pet Ios and 3x Maneuvers (14.8 + 2 * 5 + 3 * 4.1) ~ 37% def Power Boost (earliest available at 41) pretty much soft-caps. For my recommendation, first and foremost, whatever the heck you want to play. There's no wrong choice here. For my own ranking of what I think would be "best" with the two already established characters - I like the idea of something debuff heavy. Rad, Storm, Poison, Dark, even TA fits the bill here. Cold, Thermal, Traps, Sonic as well. Looking at the MM secondaries now, I think I'll boil it down to - not Kin, not Emp, not FF. For primaries it's definitely "do what you wanna do". Henchies generally don't have synergy with those from another MM, with the exception of multiple Thugs. One could say Demons due to a resist aura that goes across other pets but it's not worth basing your choice on.

I just used a hero aligned character to see what happens in Ft. Trident. You don't start a tf there, there's a portal that takes you directly to the tf contact. So there's no benefit whatsoever to gathering at Trident instead of the contact, especially with lfg queue performing exactly the same function, just without having to zone 1-2 times (Atlas to Ft. Trident)

An AR/Ninja is next up to the plate for me to level up. I'm torn for what's best to use with Ignite. The objective is to minimize the fleeing out of it so I'm wondering what's more effective - an immob from a patron or Bonfire. I want the answer to be Bonfire for a) added damage and b) the lulz. So the purpose of this post is to see what AR-ites have found in their hands-on experience. Was Bonfire effective at minimizing scatter from Ignite? 2xp points for anyone with hands-on experience with pairing Ignite with both Bonfire and a patron immob (separately of course). Note - I made the character on the test server and suited it up per the Mids build I made. I found Bonfire effective enough. This was during 10 minutes-ish of play though so not a thorough analysis by any means.

I do 3/8 for any random mob (4/8 for council, might dial it down to 2/8 for something more exotic (Vanguard, Rularuu) with a Beast/Sonic, so you can most certainly make an "army of one" with Sonic Resonance. I'm not saying it's the best, it's definitely on a tier below the usual suspects for "best" MM secondary, but it works and I'd expect with Thugs, it would work quite well. Thug Man = 2* 10 = 20 2 5% Def IOs = 10 MM Man = 4 34% def to all, add 8 if you choose to slot 2 def IOs in enforcers. Bruiser has base 26.14 s/l res, 6.54 to f/c/t Enforcers only have l = 26.14 Thugs res = 0 Add 25% from IO uniques. Add 23 for shields, 17 for dispersion That takes us to Bruiser 90% s/l (!!!!) Let's just say 65% for everybody else cause I'm tired of composing this. Bottom line Doc, you'll be fine. In general I think Aid Other is a good choice for Thugs in a non-healing secondary and certainly true for Sonic. Aid self - meh, with BG mode and resists, a column of greens will keep you upright.

The bolded is the most damning statement about a power I think I've seen. Way back in the before time I had a Grav/FF. I like to experiment with out of favor powers and powersets and I thought I'd see if I could do something interesting with Dim Shift and FF's cage. I could not.

What about the levels of your league mates? This trial allows level 10s (https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Cathedral_of_Pain_Trial). If 1/2 of your leaguemates were sub 50s, that's a recipe for trouble. A league full of 50+1s, effectively fighting +3s, fully armed with incarnate goodies (that can follow the most basic directions) - easy mode for this. A league full of 49s, effectively fighting +5s, yuck.

The Winter event has always spawned mobs that may be +1 to a zone's min, they may be +9 to the zone min. They may be dependent on the specific neighborhood. In PI I've gotten 47+ closer to Portal Corp, 41ish around the ferry. The size is definitely team dependent. If you're not prepared to deal with mobs at the upper level of a zone for whatever size your team is on, then don't click.

It was indeed the zone to spend Hero merits. Similarly, The Crucible in Cap au Diable was where you went to spend Villain merits. I have to say I haven't gone to visit The Crucible since the game returned. I have to assume it's still there. If so it's also worth a visit.

I know what term I meant to use and that is why I used it. For your own edification: https://www.google.com/search?q=rational+investor+definition

They have a (relatively high) chance to drop every X hours. I don't know if X = 24, 20 or something else. For this purpose let's just say 24. So once one drops for you, you're shut out for 24 hours, then you're highly likely to get one shortly after the lockout period. As to whether to catalyze a regular IO set, this would be the rational decision: Cost of Catalyst ~ IO purchase price - IO sale price If the left of the "~" is greater than the right, then sell your IO and repurchase it attuned. If you're able to buy and sell for the same price, you've paid a 10% "attunement fee". Let's just say a catalyst is 2M inf, then an item would have to cost 20M inf to break even. To summarize that, if an IO is more than 20M, then catalyze it. If it's less than 20M, then sell and repurchase as attuned. To really get to the nitty gritty - no regular IO costs 20M, so don't catalyze them. Sell your crafted IO and purchase it again as attuned. Note - that's the rational play. I have to confess that I've got more catalysts than I will ever use so from time to time, I'm irrational to save some time and effort. Also note I'm using the term "rational" in the context of investments, not psychology so I'm not saying anyone not adhering to this is an irrational person.

It does for my Sent. Haven't tried for a Dom though.

I just wanted to bring up my personal favorite - Selnum in PI, which is a portmanteau of Selleck and Magnum (title character from Magnum, PI). Since PI is an island, it's appropriate that they stuck with the Hawaii theme for Selnum's partner whose name followed the same pattern - McLord (McGarrett, the character's name in Hawaii 5-0 and the actor Jack Lord).

For speedy Synapses, someone, typically the leader, will head to Steel for this part because the mission is to talk to Posi. If the leader did something like use the base passcode trick from within the mission to go straight to Steel, it's possible Babbs ambushed that zone instead. I'm not speaking hypothetically, this happened to me when I did exactly that on my last Synapse.

Remember the "secret room" in PI below the arena? There was some convoluted way to get there that, IIRC, involved super speeding to a specific point on the boundary of the PI map. Anyway, it's a lot easier to get to today, just go into the arena and click on a door. Edited to add - this was AKA "the Matrix room". Go visit and you'll see why.

SP creates a buff that emanates from the caster. It will affect you and nearby teammates. FS has 2 notable parts: 1) pseudopet(s?) that affect multiple enemies within a radius of the target. This debuffs each one that it hits (it has a to-hit check) and creates a siphon power buff emanating from each enemy and buffing allies within radius of the buff. 2) an auto-hit buff emanating from the caster and buffing allies close by. To your last paragraph, I see a lot of advice on the forums for kins to drop SP when they have FS but I don't share that view. Better at debuffing hard targets due to spamability (word?). When AV fights come down to just the boss, this will provide a significant source of +DMG (again due to spamability). Works as a 1 slot wonder. Available for all tfs when exemping.

I think that the WST changes over on GMT (whatever they call it now) which doesn't adjust their time semi annually. I too was on a Hess Sunday night, finished at 11:15 pm EST and no one got the WST award. The LFG tab reflected that the WSTs had changed. Speaking of, the GMOTD is not the 100% gospel truth for WST. Always check the LFG tab and see what's highlighted in purple. The GMOTD is updated separately and tends to be behind for a good part of a day.

You never get a waypoint for the police station when you defeat the mobs that give you the jailbreak key. You'll know the mobs that give the jail key from their chat, something like "I can't believe they captured Silent Blade!". Personally I've not seen what's being discussed here except for the jailbreaks and I do a lot of mayhems (my favorite task in game). This jibes with StellarPancake's comment. I have to contest the notion that you only get a key if you, the PC, defeat all the keyholder mobs. I very frequently let the Family fight the PPD (or vice versa) just because I hate PPD in the 20s with the Glue Gun and I always get the key when I mop up the Consiglieri that's inevitably left over.

The easy answer for me is that it's me, the actual MM that buffs up the henchies or debuffs the enemies so that the otherwise underpowered minions can do their thing. That's not just RP, that's actually how the game works.

You most certainly do outlevel the contacts. Take your 50 to Sirens and report back what missions the contact gives you.

Lol, touché. I'll go one step further and self-own... Beast Mastery includes -fly, even an aoe (Hawk and Ravens (for aoe)).

I have a Beasts/Sonic and the Lionesses make a good "fire and forget" target for Disruption. I did go pretty deep into Medicine (aids self/other and field medic). As to the OP's question if it's a bad choice, I'd say no, Demons/Sonic should work quite well. They heal each other enough so that you don't have to be super quick to react to damage taken. Take a whip attack or 2 and you can REALLY lay down the -res.

I'm glad to see this finally mentioned. I would never send in low HP pets to just be some alpha soaking sacrifice. I'll take alphas all day long on any MM but to just discard my means of BG for skittish teammates? Nope.

No way would I put Beasts as the worst powerset in game, I don't even put them in the bottom tier of MM primaries. They do have nuances, flyers can be problematic for example, but seeing that they come out on top of DPS tests is no surprise to me. TA on the other hand...