Force Redux

Quick note: Knights already do frequent knock up. Keep the Overwhelming in the zombies, even if you lose a full set bonus. Nothing in the bonus is worth the mitigation of the knockdown proc x 3 zombies! More later when I'm off shift.

It's been one of the chief attractors for the game for me since the Beta. Literally, the no. 1 MMORPG community in 21 years of MMOing on my part. Glad it survived the sunset 🙂

Nice, like the name! I find that MM is the only AT I can tolerate Electric Affinity, since its so busy I feel I never have a chance to really use my primary (blast as Defender, control as Controller). But MM the Primary generally takes care of itself: GoTo ---> Aggressive pets, then ElecAff away to my heart's content.

I like your build. Totally different than I would have built it, but with those solid S/L defense numbers and a decent END recovery over consumption, seems like you're right where you need to be. Pets are slotted okay, but zombies need more accuracy. For Wild Growth, don't worry too much about the regen, you already have LOTS of healing Focus on Resists and use a couple of slots elsewhere. Maybe in Soul Extraction so you can then free up slots for Zombies. Lich would benefit from a Clouded Senses damage proc and more -ToHit. Maybe only 4 of the SCotM and then the proc and a 50+3 ToHitDebuff crafted.? If you don't mind losing a couple points of recharge, a 5-slot Clouded Senses would do better. Lich isn't for damage, he's for control/Debuffs. Anyway, as long as you are having fun and doing well, its all quibbles, there are a thousand ways to build a great character, just my ruminations 🙂

This is awesome! I'm glad you are finding success with your MM! Life is good. Well, not for Leo. He got his face bitten off by your pets, lol. Nothing is sweeter than revenge! That debuffing makes the difference. You'll love Fearsome Stare as an opener. Focus on -ToHit with it, not the Fear. With enough recharge you can even have it up eventually for more than once per fight (if they are longer or larger battles). Also with enough recharge, your Darkest Night will be back up in a couple of seconds. I do like Recharge in there, and global recharge/hasten will help. Holler if there is anything more we can do to help. Master Mind is the Best Mind! 🙂

As a poster said above, I think many of these could be rolled up under pet appearance customization. That also said, some mechanically cannot, and it would be nice to have a new set or two that has a wide range of appeal. I've said 'duplicates' but for a totally new set, I'd like to see Elementals / Enchanted Items, such as you see in Night Ward. The assets are already there. Low hanging fruit and all that 🙂

I liked your pointing out the importance of keeping pets selectively in Aggressive mode. It is huge for dps. I only drop them to Defensive if I'm concerned about either aggroing other mobs that may be close by and I don't think I can manage them myself. I make frequent use of the improved GOTO command to make sure my pets stay where I want them to. That said, I will command them to attack a single hard target as needed, too.

Good comments @SableShrike. I would like to opine, take one attack from your Primary. The contribution they can make to overall dps has been tested to be significant, and on some sets they have side effects such as KD or -Resists that will help. For Beasts, you need at least one to build up Pack Mentality faster. I would go single target attack over AOE, however, for the reasons Sable mentions r/t aggro, as well as the fact the AOEs are usually end-heavy. Let the pets AOE.

@Aeroprism awesome, I'll have to review the build and make suggestions later, as I'm off for a bit. But part of the ability to flourish will be the build, the other will be your playstyle/tactics. Catch you tomorrow!

I personally almost never use BG mode. Like, Ever.

That's an unfortunate experience @Aeroprism. Do you have a build to post? I'd like to help you. Beasts start off with respectable S/L resists as well as respectable 11% Defense vs All. They are the opposite of paper fragile, that would be Ninjas. Beasts are actually one of the tougher sets. Dark is also solid, but perhaps the slotting or your use of it might need a tweak? Again, you don't have access to Fearsome Stare, but you have Darkest Night. Unless you are getting an ambush spawned right on top of you, you should be starting off with Darkest Night to debuff mobs before they have a chance to alpha you. That will reduce their ToHit (combined with pet defense) and their damage. Twilight Grasp isn't that slow at all (2.37 cast time vs. Thermal's Warmth, which is 2.03 seconds cast time), and the heal that comes actually can raise you and pets from the dead if it goes off at the right time. It's actually a terrific heal. Base accuracy was improved from 1.0 to 1.2 with the last patch, and so it is now inherently fairly accurate, but still does require some slotting. At least 1 Single Origin accuracy at -1 to +1 mobs. I find tIOhat a Kismat +Acc unique IO in Hover is very helpful for low level Dark users. Realize, at level 18 your pets are a bit underleveled. You don't have the Dire Wolf yet, but you do have the wolves. I'd like to make some suggestions. You will come into your own at 26 when you get Dire Wolf, but with a few slots and the final upgrade at 32, you'll really notice the difference. 12 to 26 is generally the rough spot for MMs. I encourage you to push through. Unfortunately, MMs and Stalkers are the two ATs that really benefit from their unique IOs. Stalkers perform well without it, but their Stalker IO uniques change their gameplay by 100%. Masterminds tend to have weaker pets in tougher content until they 1) gain slotting/levels and 2) slot the six unique pet Defense/Resist IOs. Fortunately, they are not that expensive, but I consider them MANDATORY. At least the 3 Defense IOs and the +15% Resist IO, if you can only afford 4 slots (for sets that are not Demons/Thugs/Necro). Wolves can take a number of unique IOs and procs. There is another thread here that goes over it recently. Shield Breaker, Lady Gray are good candidates to help kill faster. Remember, Dark must use their debuffs to help their pets. Try putting a Tar Patch down at a corner. Then peak out, place Darkest Night on a Lt or Boss mob in the pack, then duck behind the corner and allow the mobs to come to you, get stuck in Tar Patch, then send in the pets to chow down. Don't forget to build up Pack Mentality with the Beast Mastery power of your choice (I like Call Hawk for the -ToHit, -Fly and KD). If you took Fortify Pack, you can convert stacks of Pack Mentality (built up by your attacks and the pets') to Defense stacks, if you need it. If you don't convert, they will build up extra crit % and damage, which kills things faster. If you want to join me on Everlasting, I can assist you with some IO uniques to help out, or do some missions to help you get the hang of Dark. I've taken both Beast and Dark to incarnate levels, so I'm familiar with them both. They are a solid combo. Lastly, if you have time, see my guide on Dark as a secondary power set. I love dark. Perhaps it will help you. It is linked in my signature, below: Gather the Shadows.

Of the two I'd lean Thermal ever so slightly. Demons really are the best set to pair with it, because of their already high resists, which is what you need. However, Cold is also thematic, and you can rely on the demons to heal themselves periodically, while taking more infrequent damage. You'll get some extra elemental resists through Mist, but it won't compare to Thermal's buffs. You'll be running about 19 to 20% Defense (35% vs AoE) with Thermal. Enough to take a bite out of incoming damage, but you will defintely be leveraging heals more than Cold will, since Cold will be reaching toward Def Cap. If I went Cold, I'd pick up Aid Other/Self for some extra healing. Cold is very strong. It works well with my Robots, too.

Solid overview of the Epics and a good addition to the MM information pool.

I updated with my Demons/Dark build.

Man, this right here makes me want to log in right now instead of doing RL stuff lol! 😄

You'll need a crafting table at a university or your base. Find the recipe you want to make and have the materials available. If you do it at a university you can also open the auction house to buy what's missing. 🙂

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.