Force Redux

I would definitely recommend to not skip Darkest Night. It is a core power in the entire set. Certainly for reasons the above posters mentioned, as well as the fact that recharge can be down to about two seconds, making it easy to put back up very quickly should you toggle it off or the anchor despawns.

@Nyghtmaire also food for thought, ty. I might put in some stuff on goals for bonuses. I personality try for about 30-32% Ranged Defense with Dark for my MM themselves. S/L defense instead of ranged is certainly a valid option! 🙂

@BGSacho I appreciate your post as well as feedback. I want a rather definitive guide, and corrections and other approaches are important to get there. Thank you! I will make changes to the original incorporating your feedback 👍🏻😀

This. I had a niche use, but a very important niche use, as it specifically counters a large annoyance for MMs. It is well worth the power pick once you have the time to squeeze it in.

Thanks @Nyghtmaire! This was long overdue. I really find Dark Miasma one of the most fun and engaging power sets in the game. I loved it as far back at launch , even when it was generally misunderstood by teammates who wanted Empathy 🙂

My beasts/time is, pardon the pun, a beast. Very tough. If you post a build I can try to help. But overall, I also feel that Demons is the best all around set for durability and damage. Thugs is a close second.

I love this so much. ❤️

I agree. There have been a number of suggestions in the Suggestion forum. Ninja is a relatively easier fix, as the ninjas need a boost in Defense and some S/L resists, and the Oni needs a more reliable power rotation (mimicking Lich) so that he's actually useful for control. Mercs...well, Mercs need to be stripped down and redone from scratch if they are going to be competitive with other Primaries. Both could use a revisit to their 'specials', ie Smoke Bomb and Serum.

Definitely duplicates.

Incarnate Choices The good thing about the incarnates is there really is no wrong way to go. They are there to round out your build, or focus it into a particular direction. That said, for Dark Miasma there are some general thoughts I would like to opine on: Alpha Slot Alpha is your most important slot. Why? Because when you get it to T3, you AND YOUR PETS get a permanant +1 level boost. This means your pets will more reliably hit things, damage things and otherwise operate one level higher against those +4 critters you're fighting. This is important, due to the Purple Patch, which deems that the lower level you are vs. a purple conning mob, the worse you and your pets will scale against it. Get this. Immediately. Its not hard. Shards are too infrequent a drop. Get some Empyrean Merits by doing Dark Astoria missions and getting to Veteran Level 3, where you will be gifted with a bunch of Empyrean Merits. You'll need 16 to craft everything you need for T3 by converting Empyrean Merits to Incarnate Threads and a Rare Component. Verdict: Go Intuition or Musculature as both boost damage, as well as ToHitDebuff, which are core to your being a Dark Miasma MM. Intuition if you want to boost Holds, or Musculature if you prefer to boost Immobilizations. Judgement Judgement is a big nuke that is on a 90 second timer that cannot be reduced with Recharge Reduction at all. All of them are good, with variations in the damage type, the AOE shape, and choice of secondary effects. You can't go wrong here, but I have some thoughts: Verdict: Go Void, Ionic or Pyronic for maximum Lolz. But anything will work. Really. Interface Most of these are best used to boost damage, with secondary effects being rather negligible. Masterminds make the best use of Interface since between them and their 6+ pets, they can really stack the procs. You cannot recolor the Interface procs, so be aware that if you are a stickler for concept and image, you may wish to avoid some of the ones that rub your costume the wrong way when they fire off. Verdict: Go for Degenerative, Reactive or Spectral. Lore Cimerorans for life!! Ah, wait. Never mind. Be aware that Lore gives you another +1 level shift at T3, but ONLY in Incarnate content, such as iTrials and Dark Astoria. But you will appreciate it there as it makes your pets up to a total of +3 levels (once you also get Destiny to T3, as Destiny also gives a level boost). Read below. Verdict: Take anything you like! Go for flavor! Destiny Another big opportunity here to patch up weak points in your build. There are no bad choices, just find one (or more if you later craft a second or third) that tickles your fancy. Verdict: Take the one that best suits you, but I call Clarion the best for Dark Miasma. Hybrid Hybrid helps you cross the line between ATs, but may not do so as completely as you'd think. Taking Control won't make you a real controller, for example. Read below. Verdict: Support Core will serve you as a great all-rounder, but Melee is useful for Tankerminds and Assault for damage types who don't mind micromanaging the buff. I hope you found this helpful. Please add corrections, comments or questions below and I'll address them when possible. Remember, at the end of the day, its City of Heroes, and almost anything will work. I firmly believe if it suits your concept and somehow addresses the role of your AT, you can't go wrong. Enjoy!

Sample Demons/Dark build (see later post for more expensive build, my current one) This is based on my real-life Demons/Dark/Soul build, it is not theoretical, and I've been working with this one for about a year. It has been tweaked several times. There is no one right way to build and you could take this with a grain of salt and run it successfully another way. I'll probably tweak it again at some point, but its been mostly static for the past 8 mos. While there are many combinations of /Dark as described above, I feel that providing one or two sample play-tested builds will allow for someone to tweak it to any Primary, as most Primaries are build along similar lines with only a few deviations. My goals with my build were: To boost passive Endurance Recovery to help offset costs. That said, I've never found /Dark MMs particularly End hungry, as the majority of their attacks from their primary are cost-free. If you are spamming all three attacks, then it might be more of an issue. However, I like to plan for contingencies (such as the rare occurrence when I'm summoning lots of pets for some reason). To have 30% Ranged Defense (as a base to add -ToHit with) for my Mastermind. The Demons themselves have 18% bonus Defense vs All (33% vs. AoE) from the IOs, Shadowfall and Maneuvers. This makes them rather robust when combined with the -ToHit, controls, Resistances, and heals. You will notice the +1 Level shift from your Alpha will make life easier at all end-game content. Get it immediately. If you are on Everlasting and need help on your Oroboros mission to get it, ask me. To have decent global recharge (117.5% with Hasten) to get some abilities up a bit faster (Tar Patch, Twilight Grasp, Fearsome Stare, Dark Servant). Slot for enhanced -ToHit values, as this, combined with the controls, Defense, Resists and Heals is what will keep you upright and dangerous. Make sure Accuracy was solid. This is boosted even at low levels with the Kismat +Accuracy IO unique. Some Notes: Hover takes on a lot of roles - KB protection, Accuracy boost, Stealth combo (with Shadowfall) and LotG mule. You could take Afterburner (or Vengeance) as another LotG mule, but I find it unnecessary to have that much recharge on MMs. Group Fly will make your life much easier when on certain maps. It is not a long distance travel power. It is a tactical power for combat. I chose Corruption for my single attack. It has long range and also debuffs like the others. I didn't need the melee KB, or the AoE debuffing. I just wanted to stack more -Resistance on tough single targets with my Demons' own -Resistance, or tag things from a distance for pulls. Any single of these three attacks are just fine. Be aware losing Thunderstrike would drop Ranged Defense a bit. You could build for Smashing/Lethal defense, but that's a whole other build. Personally, I'm rarely in melee range of anything. Minions that get too close get stunned from Oppressive Gloom. Oppressive Gloom is easily skippable if you want to take Vengeance, Assault, Afterburner or any other throw-away power. If you wanted to save a slot in Hover, you could also take Super Speed to stack stealth with. Or toss a stealth IO into Sprint instead of Hover. I hate using Sprint, I forget to use it. So I spend a slot to have Stealth IO in Hover for my own sake. I put the Soulbound Allegiance, Chance for Build-up IO into the Gargoyles. There is twice as much chance for it to proc with them and they do respectable damage among themselves. I also slotted a 50+3 Resistance crafted IO in there. Normally I do not slot direct enhancements into pet sub-abiities, but the aura Resistance is too good not to improve. I went with Soul Mastery for the Epic. Oppressive Gloom stacks stun with Howling Twilight, and is also good mitigation for any minions that wander too close to you. The armor is a nice resist armor that stacks nicely with Shadowfall. I like immobilzes and there is a decent cone immob here, too. I wouldn't bother with the extra hold, myself, but its there if you really want to lock down targets with your Demon Prince (and Dark Servant, if he's had his morning coffee). I chose Muscular Radial Alpha for the damage boost, since Demons really emphasize the MM's damage role. There are also other benefits to Immobilize, To Hit Debuff, etc. The only other incarnate choice I wanted to highlight was that I went for Clarion Destiny, as it helps you and your pets avoid mezzes. With some other builds, like FF or Traps, or even Time, its not a big deal if you get mezzed. The buffs that keep you alive generally remain. But /Dark needs to stay active, and Clarion keeps you active and laughing off the stuns and holds that fell lesser beings. Even one landing on you can be undesirable, so go with Clarion as your first Destiny slot. You can always make others later. The Totals: Here are the Resistance and Defense totals, including the pet aura buffs, Shadowfall, Maneuvers and Pet IO Uniques (all six). All values are rounded to the nearest percentage. These values were pulled directly in-game from the Combat Attributes. No Mid's numbers here. Demonlings (Resists) 74% Smash/Lethal 52% Energy/Negative Energy, Psionic 90% Fire (Fiery Demonling); 65% Fire (Cold Demonling); 56% Fire (Hellfire Demonling) 56% Cold (Fiery Demonling); 81% Cold (Cold Demonling); 56% Cold (Hellfire Demonling) 60% Toxic (Fiery Demonling); 60% Toxic (Cold Demonling); 85% Toxic (Hellfire Demonling) Demonlings (Defense) 19% Melee 19% Ranged 34% AoE 19% S/L/F/C/E/N/Psi Gargoyles (Resists) 60% Smash/Lethal (Ember Demon); 79% Smash/Lethal (Hellfire Gargoyle) 52% Energy/Negative Energy, Psionic 72% Fire (Ember Demon); 77% Fire (Hellfire Gargoyle) 47% Cold (Ember Demon); 56% Cold (Hellfire Gargoyle) 60% Toxic (Ember Demon); 85% Toxic (Hellfire Gargoyle) Gargoyles (Defense) 19% Melee 19% Ranged 34% AoE 19% S/L/F/C/E/N/Psi Demon Prince (Resists) 66% Smash/Lethal 60% Fire 64% Cold 52% Energy/Negative Energy, Psionic 68% Toxic Demon Prince (Defense) 19% Melee 19% Ranged 34% AoE 35% Smash/Lethal 29% Fire 39% Cold 19% E/N/Psi As you can see, the demons are just tough all around. The Demon Prince is even scarier, with high Defenses in Smashing/Lethal (and Elements) so that he's going to be shrugging off even more attacks. What have I done with this build? Pretty much anything other than taking on Task Forces or GMs/Pylons solo. I don't do big game hunting, and I don't have the time or patience to solo an ITF, for example. But I run normal group and solo content repeatedly up to +4/x8 with no issues. Mother Ship Raids, Dark Astoria content, Incarnate Trials, Regular TFs and STs, etc. The only other thing I avoid with MMs that I think are just not efficient for everyone is a Hamidon Raid. The key to enjoying your mastermind is getting comfortable with your pet commands (and they do NOT need to be terribly complex for you to do so), the pet AI, and the capabilities of enemy groups and how you will respond to them. That and having the perfect costume. Final Words This is without a doubt, my most fun character on Homecoming. If there is interest, I could also delve into what Incarnate stuff might go well with /Dark masterminds. Questions, comments, etc, appreciated. @Nyghtmaire has his Necro/Dark built below, which is my next-favorite /Dark Mastermind. Thanks for posting that, Nyghtmaire! The Build:

Gather the Shadows: a Dark Miasma Primer for Masterminds Under cover of night, the Hunter sets the bone horn to his lips and winds a mournful call. Breaking from the darkened forests of Croatoa, eyes aglow, the pack attends him under the rising moon. Blood is in the air! The night is his! 'Ware his prey. The nervous, bespectacled teenager opens the forbidden volume of knowledge purloined from an occult shop. In it, the runes blaze in ruddy light, promising the power to summon from the darkest pits of Tartarus those who will help her rescue her sister from Crey's laboratories. From the far voids of space, a machine intelligence breaches through the Netherworld, escaping the meat beings who have decimated it's race. At it's side, the remnants of a protective detail, humming with electronic eyes surveying their new surroundings. They did not arrive unscathed, for the Netherworld clings to them greedily. Introduction So, you have decided to wield the powers of the Netherworld against your enemies. Whether by accident of fate, or purposeful investigation, you have learned to breach through the veil and allow the dim energies of that gloomy dimension to empower you. And weaken your enemies. As a result, the night is your friend. You call the terrors from beyond, and they heed you. Gathering shadows, you travel under a cloak of obscurity, terror and dismay - your constant comrades. You focus less on the empowerment of others and instead bring foes their ruin through decrepitude of mind, spirit and body. You have chosen the way of the Dark Miasma. Dark Miasma is a secondary power set for Masterminds that harkens back to the Old Days when there was no Time Manipulation. No Nature Affinity. Dark was the prince of debuffing, with a side of control and it was, and still is (despite a small nerf to Twilight Grasp) one of the premier supports sets in the game. Why is that? It is due to the debuffs. Debuffs are king in City of Heroes. If you can weaken your foes to the strength of a mewling kitten, what have you to fear? But Dark is not just debuffs. In fact, it brings many tools to the table. Controls (through holds, stuns, slows and fears) abound. It has, arguably, one of the best heals in the game. It has an extra (non-controlled) pet that acts as a mini-controller (Dark Servant). What also makes Dark Miasma so potent is that virtually every power serves multiple purposes. Howling Twilight? Why yes, its a resurrection power. But it also debuffs regeneration. And it stuns mobs. This is typical for Dark Miasma. It means that the mastermind has a huge array of tools a their disposal. With all this awesomeness, there is a price. Many powers require a To-Hit roll. You will need to make sure you have high accuracy. Your minions depend on it. You have little ability to buff (Shadowfall is your only buff, and it offers relatively modest or minor bonuses to resist/defense/stealth). This means, your survival is dependent on your active ability to target and debuff your enemies. If you do not, they will hurt you at their full power. It is a power set that requires you to be active. This is a good thing. It will keep you from being bored (Force Field) and offers the mastermind a feeling of power as you raise your hands and call down debilitating powers of the darkness to drag those who oppose you to their knees, begging for mercy. Dark Miasma. You take this power because: You want to harness the powers of night and darkness. You want to weaken, harrass, frighten and subjugate your foes. You want to have many tools for many different occasions. You want to have an extra, useful pet named "dark fluffy". At this point, you may be asking yourself, Force Redux, what kind of minions work best with all this overwhelming Stygian power? And I will say "any of them". But I will also caution that some work better than others. My choices (and opinions may vary) would be ranked as follows: Top Choices: Mercenaries: solid resists, Serum is great buff power, ranged excellent damage Necromancy: control-focused, lots of temp pets, strong single target damage, immune to slow Demons: jack-of-trades, strong resists Good Choices: Ninjas: great single target damage, mostly melee, cardboard tigers! They got a rework, honestly I almost put them up in Top Choice... Could go either way! 👍🏻 Robots: higher AoE damage, moderate ST damage, good base defense, the healing power is redundant Thugs: solid damage, good base defense, bruiser is a mini brute/tank Okay Choice: Beasts: high single target damage. Need revamp to their power rotation. All melee More on primaries later. Let's examine Dark Miasma a bit further. The more you know the powers of the Netherworld, the more you can use them for your gain and your enemies' doom. The Powers Twilight Grasp Available at Level: 1 Purpose: Heal, Debuff Rating: Excellent. Take immediately. Basic Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 2 Heal, 1 EndRed, 1 Recharge enhancement. Advanced Slotting: 5x Touch of the Nictus. You could add in a 6th slot for the damage proc, but its not worth it unless you have slots to spare. While I have not found it necessary on my builds, there is good potential to slot a Theft of Essence endurance proc in here to help with endurance management for those who want an extra boost to the blue bar! Note: This is a power you will use very often. It has a large 20' radius, so you can easily capture your pets even if they are in melee range, while you stand outside of it. The regeneration debuff is helpful vs EBs, AVs and GMs, so feel free to spam it, its -50% and stackable with Howling Twilight, below. Twilight Grasp is so good, it will be enough to keep you and your pets alive for many lower levels, even before you get to using the invention enhancements. This is not only a heal (and a big one, with a big heal that is centered on YOU), but it also debuffs the target's -ToHit, their Regeneration, AND their damage, and it stacks. All this goodness, however, does require a ToHit check, although it was recently buffed to have an innate 1.2 accuracy, so it works better out of the box and at lower levels. Once you are fully slotted, it hits very reliably. Tar Patch Available at Level: 2 Purpose: Debuff, Control Rating: Good. Take as soon as you can. Definitely do not delay past level 20. Basic slotting: 1 or 2 Recharge enhancements. Advanced slotting: Slow IOs kind of suck, but you can frankenslot effectively to get the numbers you need easily enough; 2 Slow IOs with Slow/Recharge/EndRed (ie Pacing of the Turtle or Impeded Switfness). You could also put procs in it, but anything but the damage procs are very weak, and even with the damage proc, I would only do so to eek out a tiny bit of extra damage if I had slots left over. Note: This is a solid ability. However, it won't be up reliably every fight until you get some recharge in it, so if you need to take something else first, be my guest. It serves as a ground patch that slows enemies, debuffs their damage resistance (so they die quicker), and also grounds flying mobs who get too close to the ground. The damage resistance debuff is a hefty -22.5%. Do not underestimate this. You can use your targeting recticle to place it or use a macro to have it to underneath either yourself or a targeted enemy. Personally, I keep the basic recticle, because I like to also put it at corners for clustering mobs (see Tactics, below). This power becomes even more robust when you can start to stack other ground effects on it, such as Freezing Rain or Rain of Fire. Do be aware, no matter how much slow you put in it, there is a cap to slowing, and there are a number of mobs that really just ignore slows (such as Council War Wolves). It's control, but very soft control. Darkest Night Available at Level: 4 Purpose: Debuff Rating: Excellent. Take immediately. Basic Slotting: 2 ToHitDebuff, 1 EndRed Advanced Slotting: 4 Dark Watcher's Despair. This garners you a valuable 5% Recharge bonus. Don't bother to slot for procs, they work very poorly with toggles, but again, if you are swimming in slots, you could toss in a Clouded Senses damage proc. Note: Another cornerstone ability, though you will find as you get higher level you might only use it on tougher fights instead of every fight. This is a toggle, so you have to place it on a target mob who will then shed AoE debuffs to all his buddies. A hefty 14% base ToHit debuff, plus a sold -22.5% damage debuff. The area of effect is a generous 25' radius. The only downsides are a 3.17 second cast time and a bit of an hungry endurance cost when not slotted well. When the anchored mob it is attached to dies, it will stick around for about ten seconds or so, which is an improvement than on live. I tend to have about 1-2 second recharge on this, so its easily up quickly to recast if needed. Generally, cast this on an EB, AV or GM. Otherwise cast it on a Minion who will die early and thus the corpse won't move. Worst thing to cast this on is a War Wolf boss, who will zip around the map aggroing other mobs who will all come running to give you a hug. You can also Hold an anchor mob to keep them in place. Howling Twilight Available at Level: 10 Purpose: Resurrection, Debuff, Crowd Control Rating: Excellent. Take as soon a you can. Do not delay past level 20. Basic Slotting: 1 or 2 Recharge enhancements. Advanced Slotting: 1 or 2 Slow IOs. Stun IOs do not combine EndRed/Recharge, which is the combo you are looking for, since this an AUTO-HIT POWER (ie, no ToHit needed); so I frankenslot this the way I do Tar Patch. This power has a hefty 32 END cost, so that's why you also want EndReduction in it, as well as recharge. The boost to Slow is just extra. The Stun lasts a solid 15 seconds, which is good enough for government work. Note: This is one of those Swiss knife powers I told you about. Yes, it is a rez. The best Rez in the game, actually. It Resurrects allies in a 15' radius around you, they have debt protection AND full health AND full endurance. It also does not require a hit check. You just need some mob to target. That's crazy! But wait, there's more: it also debuffs regeneration by -500% AND also debuffs the target's recharge a bit. This means you can neuter the regeneration rate of AVs and GMs. This regen debuff lasts for 30 seconds and is easily up long enough to help take a chunk out of AV regen. This will combine with Twilight Grasp's rebuff, too. This is a fantastic tool for trials and task forces. On top of that, you can use it for crowd control, as it has a Mag 2 stun that can render a group of mobs insensate. Silly blaster pull an extra bunch of mobs over to you? Did an ambush spawn when you least expected it? BAM! Howling Twilight their ass! Don't sit on this power, use it often. Shadow Fall Available at Level: 16 Purpose: Buffing, Stealth Rating: Excellent. Take immediately. Basic Slotting: 1 EndReduction, maybe 1-2 Resist Damage Advanced Slotting: What you put in here really depends on what other powers you also pick up. It can take Resist IOs, Defense IOs, which have many good specialty procs, too. At the very least, stick a Luck of the Gambler Global 7.5% recharge boost in here. You could also put in the global defense unique IOs when you get the cash (if you slot these unique IOs that's +11% Defense vs All for you!). This power is six slotted in all my build with both unique Defense IOs and sets to max Resists and base Defense. Note: Another cornerstone ability. This is your only buff, but its a good one. Offers solid an Area of Effect (for you, allies and minions) 15% base resistance to Energy/Negative Energy and Psionic. It is one of the few powers that boosts Psi damage resistance. You will find Energy Damage, however, to be the most prevalent of those three in Incarnate stuff, but the Imperious Task Force also tosses around a lot of Negative Energy, which your pets and allies will be grateful for you running this. Shadow fall also offers decent base 3.75 Maneuvers-level Defense which you can boost to about 5% base, which is nice for everyone. It also offers Stealth, so combine it with Super Speed, or perhaps a Freebird Stealth IO and you are now *Presto!* invisible to *most* mobs. Just be careful around Rikti drones and the like, they won't be fooled. Stealth is handy, also, when entering some missions, where the door is 'hot' (ie, there is a spawn right by the door). It will keep you and the pets hidden unless they get very close up. I run this power ALL the time. This stealth is also helpful to get set up in position to use Fearsome Stare or other powers without interruption. Don't leave home without it. Fearsome Stare Available at Level: 20 Purpose: Crowd Control, Debuff Rating: Excellent. Take immediately. Notice a trend here? Basic Slotting: 2 EndReduction, 2 ToHitDebuff Advanced Slotting: 4 Cloud Senses (gets you a nifty 6.5% recharge boost). You can add a Fear/Range IO in there, too, as range is very handy. Be aware at base 70' range it can reach back quite far, so know if you might hit other mobs far away behind the ones you are targeting. The fear lasts about 18 seconds, so its perma with a bit of recharge slotting for the most part. Note: This is part of your survivability. I find I use it more than Darkest Night at higher levels. Fearsome Stare has a long, medium-width (30 degree) cone that makes mobs tremble in their shoes when you paint them with it. If they are hit, they will fire back once, then go back to trembling. They suffer a base 11.25% ToHit debuff, which I would enhance, as this will stack with everything else that Dark puts out to make mobs strike empty air. This is usually my opener when starting a fight. Petrifying Gaze Available at Level: 28 Purpose: Crowd Control Rating: Fair. Take it when you have room. Or skip it. Usefulness may depend on your Primary. Basic Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 1 Hold, 1 EndRed, 1 Recharge Advanced Slotting: 4 Basilisk's Gaze and 1 Lockdown % for +2 Mag Hold proc Note: This is a nice little single target hold. But that's all it does, unlike virtually every other power in Dark Miasma. Not even a to hit debuff. The hold is 10 seconds unenhanced, and the recharge is 16 seconds, so it won't really double stack until it gets some good enhancements and strong recharge from outside sources. You can skip it. I find it does stack well with pets that can cast a hold of their own, such as Demon Prince and Lich. I would take it with those pets. Dark Servant (see below) has its own hold, but since you can't direct what he attacks to try to stack it, I discount it. With Demon Prince and Lich, I find if we're both attacking the same thing, we can Hold bosses fairly reliably. Otherwise this is an okay power to use to take out annoying Lts, such as Malta Sappers. But with all the other debuffs and things that Dark Miasma brings to the table, this is simply not a mandatory power. I typically take it in my 40s. Black Hole Available at Level: 35 Purpose: Crowd Control Rating: Poor. Skip it unless you want it for novelty factor. Basic Slotting: 1 EndRed Advanced Slotting: It doesn't take any sets, and so there is nothing to recommend here. Note: This is one of the worst powers in the game. It does not jive with how the game was played back in Live, nor with how it is played in Homecoming. It has poor visuals that fail to really telegraph to a team what is going on and in the result it just slows down progress and frustrates everyone. On the plus side, not taking this means you are free to select another power. Might I suggest your Epic pool, which opens up at this level, too. Dark Servant Available at Level: 38 Purpose: Pet Rating: Good. Take it, unless you don't like being more awesome. Basic Slotting: 2 Recharge, 2 Accurac Advanced Slotting: 4-slot Clouded Senes. This gives you a nifty 6.5% recharge reduction. You could toss in a 5th slot for Clouded Senses % negative energy damage proc (recommended). If you add in a final Cloud Senses, you get a bonus to ranged defense, which is useful on some builds. I never bother. Note: This is a great final power. It summons a temporary pet for 2 minutes that is uncontrolled, following you around and doing his thing. He can heal, immobilize, hold and debuff accuracy. He does all these things on his own terms, meaning he can aggro mobs (rarely) or use his powers when they are least useful. For that reason, I don't recommend bothering to enhance his hold, immobilization or heal. They are nice when they come, but rely on our own instead. However, you should enhance him with -ToHit debuffs, because he has a metric ton of those. His own version of Darkest Night has a -30% damage debuff, and a -15% ToHit debuff. Even more abusive, is his unique power, Chill of the Night: a 10' radius auto hit debuff of -30% ToHit as its base. Enhanced, that's up to -45% ToHitDebuff! I'll let you add up all the -ToHit within Dark Miasma, but when it all comes together, it can be devastating, even to AVs). The list of Dark Servant's (aka, also "Dark Fluffy") powers are: Twilight Grap, Petrifying Gaze, Darkest Night, Tenebrous Tentacles and the aforementioned Chill of the Night. Dark Fluffy will take advantage of any pet IOs you have for your minions, making him tougher - but he's no tank, he does need some help of his own. Whlle he lasts 2 minutes, its easy to get him up perma. Basic Tactics Dark Miasma offers you many ways to approach a situation. There is no one way to do anything with this power set. Often you simply lead with your debuffs before sending in your minions. But there are some other basics that should be made familiar for common use. Corner Pulling: that is, using an area of movement restriction to bunch up mobs and break their line of sight so they must come to you to attack. Usually this involves having some form of trap, zone of death or AoE attacks to render said enemies dead once they arrive. You can corner pull by either using an attack or debuff to get the attention of the mobs. Then duck around the corner, column, doorway, etc and wait for them to arrive. I recommend putting a Tar Patch down in the bottleneck point to help slow them down and also debuff their resistance for faster killing. Pulling mobs in this fashion also allows you to avoid patrols or accidentally aggroing other mobs by fighting too close to the front line. Toggle Pulling: you use your Darkest Night to generate aggro and pull mobs to you, often into your Tar Patch. Has the advantage that they are nice and debuffed already. Generally, even with the long cast, you can get out of sight before they return fire. Dark Servant Shadow Bombing: summon ol' Fluffy right onto the heads of the mobs. He'll debuff their accuracy with his Chill of the Night. Be aware, he might need some help if there are too many mobs, so toss him a Darknest Night and a Twilight Grasp to keep him upright. Hold Stacking: useful with Demon Prince and Lich, as they both spam their holds so they can coincide with your own Petrifying Gaze. Useful for taking down annoying bosses. Of limited effect vs. EBs or AVs, however, due to their resistances and your hold's short durations. Tankerminding: using Provoke while pets are on Defensive/Follow mode to distribute damage among you and the pets. Works well vs. single bosses, but is terrible with lots of AoE flying around. Personally, I haven't Tankerminded since shortly after City of Villains dropped I found it tedious and if I debuffed well enough, did not need it. But everyone has their own style. There are many useful guides about Tankerminding, and it has its own playstyle you may enjoy. Primaries Okay, so...you command the powers of the night. What now? Yes, you can lurk menacingly in corners and make shop keepers tremble. But you can't rule a city of fearful civilians, much less take on super-powered foes without trusty minons! The good news is, you have a number of solid choices. Some are not only good mechanically, but also thematically. But don't let that stop you. I've seen Dark Miasma recolored to resemble sand, blood, cloud, toxic gas, and the like. No reason you have to be an edgy shadow lord! Demons: My first recommendation, tied with Necromancy. Demons are already the toughest of the Pet sets. They have a resistance aura that stacks with Shadowfall. They have their own heals. They have a spammable hold. They have damage spread nicely around all their pets, in a variety of damage types (cold, fire, toxic, lethal). They come with Hell on Earth, a damage buff that also takes all of the Pet Uniques. This lets you slot better on Demons. However, demons do not proc well due to the variety of attacks. But you can put a Slow IO % smashing damage in Demon Prince (everything has a slow component, so all his attacks will proc it), as well as the Overwhelming Force Knockdown IO in the Demonlings (they will proc it often, and its excellent mitigation). Demons are also very thematic, if you decide against Thermal (also an excellent choice for Demons) and go for a dark pits of hell theme. The iconic NPC Desdemona is Demon/Dark. This is the choice you want if you desire a solid damage Primary to go with all our delightful debuffs and some control. Necromancy: My tie for first place, if you want a controller-mastermind hybrid. Lich is not a top damaging pet (but you should put a Clouded Senses proc in him for extra damage, as he has -ToHit in everything he does). But he does spam lots of powers like a mini Dark Defender. In combination with Dark Servant, they are a potent pair. Unlike Dark Servant, you can control where he goes and whom he attacks. The Grave Knights take Lady Gray and Shieldbreaker Procs, plus they have Knockup in their sword attacks. They are actually your damage dealers. Stick an Overwhelming Force in the zombies so they can play knock-down with the mobs - they will proc it often. Adds to your controlleryness. Also, Necromancy is one of three sets that has a buff power that takes the Unique pet IOs. The power summons extra temporary pets. There is nothing more thematic than undead and darkness, and Necro/Dark has been a classic for MMs both for theme and effectiveness at balancing damage with control ever since City of Villains launch. Thugs: A solid choice, and another classic. The Enforcers can be slotted with procs like Grave Knights. Bruiser is a tough mini-bruiser (duh!), and the suicidal Arsonist is your mini-corruptor with a deathwish, but he is responsible for a LOT of your AoE, so keep him alive. The new pet AI changes really did help him out, though, he dies much less. The Enforcers also radiate a Defense Aura that stacks with your -ToHit to help surviability. You might want to toss a +Defense enhancer in them but I tend to go for procs instead. They can also take Gaussians to hit proc that will do fun things, so I am told. Like, it goes off a lot more than if you slot it in your Tactics due to hitting all the pets. I've never used it though. No room. As with Demons / Necro, they get Gang War, which summons lots of mini pets, for lots of extra damage, but more importantly, can mule the unique pet IOs. As always, stick an Overwhelming Force Knockdown IO in the T1 thugs to help with mitigation. Broken record and all that. Robots: A good choice. They have -Regen in the Pulse Rifle attacks which means they are great against AVs and GMs. However, I find their single target damage a bit lacking, and most of the AoE is really tied up in the Assault Bot. Defense Bots can heal other bots, but not you. Unlike demons, who heal you too. Defense Bots can cast Force Shields on you, however, as well as your bots. That's kind of them! Stick an overwhelming force IO in the little bots. Beasts: A decent choice. You can survive comfortably with the pets in melee. The pets also can self-stack Defense buffs to hit Defense Cap, or they can just stack for more damage/crits, making them safe and versatile. Plus your debuffs help them while they build up stacks of Pack Mentality to get there. A solid choice, I just wish they could take the Unique pet IOs in a separate power. They do some Knockdown on their own, so you may not wish to slot an overwhelming force IO in them. Ninjas: A great choice after the buffs they received. Ninjas are super damaging on single targets, but have good defense to build off of, especially with Dark's -ToHit debuff stacking. They can also self-heal these days. They lack the solid resists of Demons or the strong control of Necro, though Oni is pretty good at applying immobilize regularly. You will need to be vigilant in applying debuffs to help keep the ninjas safe. Mercenaries: They got a buff recently which really increased their damage output and their survivability, and with the Serum power you can really stack resistance and damage buffs. A fantastic set that can take -resistance procs it attacks and power powers as well. If you like "MOAR DAKA" and mountains of shell casings hitting the floor, take them. Conclusion No matter how you go, choosing Dark Miasma is a top tier choice for a mastermind. It goes well with everything, and has a lot to offer, not just at low levels, but also at the Incarnate portion of the game, due to the strong nature of debuffs, particularly the desired -Damage Resistance, -Damage, and -Regeneration. Dark offers some style as well, can support a wide variety of thematic choices, and familiarity with it on masterminds also means you'll be a pro right out of the box when and if you decide to also play the set on Corruptors, Defenders and Controllers! I hope you enjoyed this overview. Please feel free to leave comments, corrections or thoughts below. Thank you.

Necro damage type is generally: Zombies: Smashing and Toxic Grave Knights: Lethal and Negative Energy Lich: Negative Energy This is actually a good mix of damage types. You can give damage proc IOs to Grave Knights (% negative energy) and Lich (% negative energy) that will improve their damage. You can also add an IO to Grave Knights to give them a % for either Lethal Damage or -DamageResistance (so that other attacks that land for a period of time do more damage). I'd opt for the -DamResist over more lethal damage, myself. If you get to Incarnate powers, you can add more damage types through the Interface power's damage proc. I typically go Spectral with Necro/Dark since its a control-themed pairing, so why not have a small % Immobilize with high % negative energy damage. With so many pet attacks, its very likely you will stack this multiple times. In fact, MMs are the best users of Interface incarnate powers due to the sheer number of attacks they and their pets put out (as Redlynne says, 'Rollng the Dice"). I've been wanting to post builds for */Dark and I might just do it today. It is my favorite pairing with many of the primaries (particularly Demons, Necromancy, Thugs, Bots, Beasts). I wish you well. Oh, please do read the wiki link @Nyghtmaire posted above, knowing the mechanics just a little bit better (and terminology) will help you get the best answers to your questions to help you out 🙂

I wish I could be of more help, but I can't load Mid's and I have never been able to really get into Poison. Based on my experience, the demons are tough, but without any buffs, they will be subject to getting killed if there are any mobs around that /Poison hasn't debuffed. IMO, /Poison is a good secondary for hunting GMs and AVs, and should shine there, but possibly less so in something like the ITF, where there are more mobs than you can debuff, and you'll need to rely on other support ATs to help keep the demons on their feet. It wouldn't be too bad if /Poison has a better heal. Anyway, I'm sure the build is viable, because Demons are top tier, possibly the best Primary from a numbers standpoint, and if you stick with low numbers of tough targets, you should do quite well. As for Redside, I have never failed to assemble a team, whether for missions, radios, strike forces, etc. It might be a little longer to get one together, or you may run a 6 person team rather than 8 on slower days, but Redside does have a following, and if you announce and form teams yourself, you'd be surprised how many folks will swap out from Blue side. Heck, if you are on Everlasting, holler and if I'm able to I'll come join you.

Great guide, thanks! I personally feel that stalkers and masterminds are the most villainous archetypes that can see you through the content in solo mode and provide a strong leveling experience. Opinions may vary.

+1 to this. I have Group Fly on all my MMs for tactical reasons, I run with a macro that announces it's use to the group. I've yet to run into any hate in HC for using it. Actually, a few times I've gotten appreciation from others, like on GW's patron arc last night, which is littered with Knives of Artemis and their caltrop spam. Glad to see others use it, even though it's rather situational and clunky.

Welcome aboard! Catch me in game if you need any help or just want some company, so long as I'm free 🖐🏻🙂

It sounds like a fun, effective combo. I like defenders that exemplar down well, too, as I often run lower level content to help others, as well as incarnate stuff.

I will come check it out 🙂 looks fun

I only have experience with Spines on my stalker... On tankers it will lose out on single target damage, but who cares? Quills is great for what tankers do best - keeping aggro and whittling down groups. Spines didn't offer much in terms of mitigation, which is why it's more popular IMO on brutes and stalkers, who aim more for damage than invincibility. So your survival is more heavily leveraged by your Primary. I think it would do very well with most Primaries, but special attention to any with damage auras and a strong self heal... Such as Dark. Do be aware that Dark is an End hog and really shines with IO investment. But I think it would be a solid combo. Certainly has some old school roots.

Well I'm not sure what you mean by 'weapon' or 'equipment'. MMs don't get weapon power sets, and there is no WoW-esque gearing such as armor pieces or enchanted jewelry. There are some temporary weapon powers you can pick up, through missions or the Pay2Win vendor, such as Gabriel's Hammer or the Crey Freeze Ray. For Necromancy attacks, Gloom is the only one I'd take from the primary power set for decent damage (and debuff), and possibly Life Drain if you want a self heal because your secondary lacks one. Perhaps create a new thread topic for further discussion? While OP was interested in Necro/ FF, I'd recommend other secondaries for Necro, Dark Miasma being my top pick. Cheers.

Hoping to see more at some point 😉

I like my Necro/Dark as a damage dealing controller/debuffing hybrid. In that role it excels 😀☠️. It's like a Dark controller, but more damage. That's cause Lich mini controller abilities, plus KD zombie procs and Knock up Knights are a thing that go so well with Dark Fluffy and the rest. It's truly the one Necro combo that really comes off as top tier if you like control and debuffs. 😎

@TheSpiritFox That pretty much sums up my MM experience. And it is a "master mind" so the director's chair experience is part and parcel of the archetype concept. You coordinate, plot, plan and orchestrate! 🙂 Yeah, unless its Demons/Thugs/Beasts, I tend to not play those...other than Necro, because I like Necro even though they are not the pinnacle, they are fun.

My Thugs/Time can do it, but it's best off if I run at +1/x8 for the sake of efficiency. I typically don't do the comic con other than to test my build. I stick with other S/L farms for INF.