Force Redux

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.

Actually, I like the current swords. With all the glowing effects, the substantiative nature of the blades works really well.

Traps. It's quite serviceable, even more so with IOs. I had it on my first MM with CoV launch and with basic SOs it did well enough.

I just did a TPN this week, which has the team running all over, and did just fine with my Demon/Dark. Lost the occasional minion, but resummoning periodically isn't a big deal. Especially because unlike a Defender, you can use your secondary while still putting out damage. MMs are the ultimate multitaskers. 🙂 MMs give you the best of two worlds: solid support and good sustained damage, but you do have a little bit more work to do managing pets to keep that advantage. If you can manage the peaks and valleys, is a great class. Of course, it's okay if it doesn't ring your bell. Loads of players love blasters and brutes but I find them both unsatisfying. Doesn't mean they are bad...

So take the slotting for Ninjas, then combine it with any /Dark build in this forum. Voila!

Excellent. Ty Emmy!

This might sound a bit obtuse...but do Lore Pets take pet commands ala Mastermind pet commands? I'm not in-game to try it out, but in all these years, I've never thought about it, or even bothered to observe their behaviors, I always assumed (and observed) that they acted like Controller pets. Thoughts?

/em hold torch!

/em hold torch

This is entirely viable. It should also be noted, that for the lazily-inclined (me), I simply set the demons on aggro** and 'stay' and debuff everything in sight with Dark Miasma. I don't think I've bothered with bodyguard mode except on AVs or GMs (where I can get one-shotted on a lucky hit). **caveat, in large groups where there is risk of accidentally aggroing side groups, I will put them on Defensive (or even Passive) to avoid being "that guy".

With the amount of Hellions I've launched into orbit, they should be fully staffed already! 😅

I need to be able to Chun Li kick Hellions into orbit.

Schrodinger's ninja-to?

Traps would be my top choice for solo Defender primary. It offers everything you need at relatively low levels, too. Some controls, debuffs, defense, mez protection, damage, draws aggro. Since you are solo, the downsides of set up and slow FFG speed are immaterial.

Ignore this

As a pet-class lover myself, welcome to City of Heroes! Demons/Dark is one of the strongest pairings in the game. I have one at Incarnate level and its one of my top characters both for visuals, fun factor, and taking on the game content. I don't do any builds any more in Mids character builder, but if you search this subforum you can find some posted builds for this combo. General recommendations: Demons: get all three pet powers, Hell on Earth, both pet buffs, and choose one or more of the attacks (I take the ranged whip power, which helps me either pull or help debuff damage resistance). Six slot the Hell on Earth when you can with all six of the Mastermind Invention Origin (IOs) enhancements that provide a buff aura that boosts Damage Resistance and Defense of your pets. This is essential for making pets tough enough to handle content at higher levels/purple conning. Start with the Defense ones first, then add the Resistance ones, depending on price. Its a damage buff power that also spawns some fragile minions, but its actually best used to mule the pet IOs so they don't need to go into your Demon power slots. Slot the Demons with accuracy, damage and some END reduction. For basic IOs, 2 Accuracy, 3 damage, 1 Endurance reduction. Don't both with recharge. For more advanced slotting with invention origin enhancements, see some of the other guides). Demon Prince especially likes to suck down his blue bar (endurance) so he benefits from some advanced slotting. He can also take a damage proc in his lineup as most of his powers have a slow component than can trigger the damage (again see advanced guides). the two buff powers are fine with one Endurance recuction each. You can delay the Whip attacks until you have time, as you have quite a few powers to take up through your twenties/thirties. When you do, basic slotting is Accuracy, Damage x3, endurance, recharge. Dark Miasma: you want everything except Black Hole (which is not in synch with how the game actually plays). Petryfiying Gaze (your single target hold) is not mandatory, but can be handy to take out annoying lietenants (such as Malta Sappers), or stack with your Dark Servant/Demon Prince's own holds (Demon Prince especially as he spams his ice hold), letting you take down Bosses. Don't pass up on Howling Twilight, as although its a ressurection power, it actually comes with huge debuffs and an AOE stun for control. In fact, most powers in Dark Miasma serve multiple purposes. These will be your meat and potatoes powers: Twilight Grasp. Tar Patch, Darkest Night, Fearsome Stare, Shadowfall. Lead off with Fearsome Stare, its a big cone and it not only makes targets afraid, but also debuffs their To Hit/accuracy. Or you can lead off with your toggle debuff, Darkest Night. Slot Darkest Night with -To Hit and some END reduction. Slot Fearsome Stare with -To Hit, not fear, as the fear lasts long enough, and its the stacking -ToHit that you want. Dark Servant is a handy pet. Slot him (or her) also with -ToHit, as he has absurd levels of it, especially in its point blank debuff aura Chill of the Night. His heals, holds, damage are all secondary and work well enough without any focused enhancements. While Demons are tough, and Shadowfall and pet aura IOs add greatly to that, Dark Miasma really does't buff, so you must be proactive and maintain your debuffs on your foes. Dark Servant will help when you get it, though its supplemental, as you can't control it. Dark requires a bit of concentration, unlike say Force Field, where you can fall asleep at the wheel. Other powers: Leadership - at the very least, take Maneuvers and Tactics. if you have room you can take Assault. I generally don't. Speed - I take Hasten on all my builds, as having powers recharge faster is too good to pass up. Flight - I take Hover, Fly, Group Fly and possibly Afterburner. You can take what fits your theme. I like Group Fly because while it may annoy some teammates, it helps my pets on the rare occasion Z axis maps cause pet pathing AI to go wonky, running along beams or jumping up and down off ledges, etc. Some folks really enjoy the keybind commands for masterminds, but I get buy admirably with just my basic GoTo/Stay and Aggressive/Defensive/Passive commands 99% of the time. How intricate you want to get with controls and emotes and all that extra fun stuff is up to you 🙂 Leveling up: I can't stress this enough, do NOT speed level. City of Heroes/Villains has some great missions and story line. (yes, the earlier blue side stuff, can include some clunkers or repetative missions, but overall...its really good). For your first time playing through either blue or red side, stick with the story missions. Read through dialog. Look at and read your clues in the clue window. There's so much good stuff, background history and references, it would be a shame to miss it by jumping into a farm group or speed radio XP team. Take your time, enjoy. This game has some deep lore in it, some of the best original stuff I've come across in MMOs. I may have missed a few things, but you get the general idea. Have fun. If you are on Everlasting, feel free to grab me at my global (@Force Redux) and I can jump on my Demon/Dark and do some missions with you. I may even have a few IOs I can help you with. I don't level many new toons these days and I'm happy to do story missions, etc.

My Thugs/Time is my beefiest and tankiest MM combo and like TheSpiritFox, can run +4/x8 S/L farms, although for time's sake, I find it quicker to run +3/x8. Minion death is negligible. Most runs do not see a T1 minion death, even with arsonist's suicidal tendancies. Part of this is due to the new pet AI changes, they stay in range of my buffs/heals/auras. The other is the amazing support that Time brings to the already top tier Thugs. I run them in aggressive, I never tankermind. Where I lose pets is when I'm on a team where the map scatters them (layer cake rooms) and they lose the aura bonus and access to my heals/buffs. I find that Group Fly is a good answer to this, to prvent the pet AI from going berserk with some difficult pathing on anything with a wierd Z axis (such as some of the Orangega cave maps). The rest is all practice, and learning the AI. I do not use a numberpad keybind, The most common commands I use are "GoTo" and "Follow" on all pets on 99% of content. It may be that MMs just aren't your thing, also. I've always loved pet classes, no matter what the game is. A big difference in later content is getting your Alpha slot to +1 level (T3) so your pets are bumped up as well (this and all six pet IOs). This is the single best thing you can do to help pet survivability.