Force Redux

My Demons/Dark MM. What happens when you expose an accountant with a Mu bloodline to demonology? Why "Demonomics" of course.

Hadn't forgotten. Just a bit busy!

I'm gonna underscore Thugs/Time. I've got mine fully incarnated. He's and the boys are a buzzsaw. Time offers everything Thugs need to keep causing their mischief: AoE healing with HoTs that can be used preemptively before taking damage. -To Hit and -Damage Slow aura to debuff enemies. Slow and Hold proc field. +To Hit and +Defense, easily soft capped. Regeneration. Single Target +Damage and Regen for your Bruiser or Arsonist. A ST hold for annoying Lts. I won't argue /Dark. It's the other clear chief of secondaries for MMs, and I love it on my Demons. Totally different approach from Time. Both have control elements but Time focuses more on buffing and Dark focuses on debuffing.

Yes to both. Poison excels at taking on tough single mobs: AVs, GMs. But it is sorely lacking in the necessary buffs that pets need in team content, unless those buffs are provided from another teammate. It's a specialized set. Sonic is a decent set that is (like FF) outshined by other sets, and is notable for it's status protection. However FF is more viable in that defense better for pets than resistance due to their low hit points. The resistance numbers from Sonic on their own aren't very high, but they become serviceable with pets that do have resistance to stack with it, such as demons and beasts. Even better with Beasts because they can also bring in their own Defense to layer protection. Thermal generally does what Sonic does (except status protection) but also heals. Resistance requires healing as part of the overall strategy. Particularly AoE healing for MMs. */Poison for small teams or soloing big game. Beasts/Sonic for a solid pairing. I think it's one of the better matches for Sonic . Just make sure to get Aid Other for spot healing. The pet self heal is not reliable.

The AI changes really opened up tactics for my MMs. My Bots/FF was able to use Force Bubble to keep farm mobs our of melee while the pets stayed in place and used range. Very handy, for instance. Normally the Bubble is too big and pets run it of it. Not any more!

Absolutely. I'll do it after I get through my shifts this week. I'll post on Sunday.

Agreed @oldskool ; Cones are my least favorite attacks (I incarnated a Sonic Blast, among other things, so I've given them a good shot). Wide ones are decent (such as Steam Spray, which I found rather easy to aim and forgiving). But my favorite AoEs are Targeted ones. Water Burst is also visually appealing, but the Knockup is also useful. And it recharges fairly quickly. So much to like there. Its the 'perfect' TAOE in my humble opinion.

@Darkir I could see it being useful in some builds. Fortunately, my MM doens't really need recharge (one of the few builds I have that doesn't need it..!). With the PPM changes, a smashing damge proc doesn't really make sense either. /thinking cap

Well I learned something today about RF's failure to proc KD often on my Bots/FF MM. It's a shame that Bonfire is as awesome as it is with SA, but RF is nerfed with KD. I've been dissatisfied with the rate of KD. Now I know why. I'll remove the SA proc and toss in something else. I have END to spare, so I'll keep the power. On the plus side, with the MM pet AI changes KB'd foes aren't very problematic. The Bots don't chase anything anymore!

Water burst of is love.

PS - electric and EAs visuals kept me going. They are really pretty 😃😃

+1 I just incarnated my Electric/Energy sent today up to T3 Alpha /Judgement/ Interface. It wasn't until my mid 40s that I felt my damage wasn't anemic. I'm not sure what it was outside of the plain math that made it feel worse than even my Defenders outside of getting IO sets completed, but for a dps class, even a second string one, it was a bit disheartening. My MMs are as tough, offer more team support, and do more damage. In exchange for pet wrangling, I guess? However, build now complete, it finally came together. Even exemplared down for Penelope Yin, my damage was solid, if not stellar (and compared to when I was running Yin at 24, much more capable). But I was also the sturdiest dps on any team. Fair trade. I did not build to sap. I built for damage with only a few procs in attacks. Nothing tricky, but I spent quite a bit of inf as I do with all my end builds and have what I wanted: a damage dealing skirmisher with some controls (hold, immob) who can take a beating on the front lines without hovering away. Pretty much any set can function well I'd hazard to say. Some blossom later than others. I've got about seven Sentinels in the 40s in my pursuit of looks, style, and performance. This is the one that clicked for me. DP/Nin with incendiary ammo was decent. Better than low level Electric. Water/Bio was solid damage. Not so tanky as EA at lower levels while on offensive, however. OP, try a few out. See what works. It's easy to level in HC. But be patient. Some builds take time to fall into place. I love my Grav/Dark controller, but it took me two tried to get there. Slotting and sets really are integral for performance. Enjoy. Sentinel has many fun powers, may you find the ones that help you soar. I'm glad I stuck it out with my Electric/EA - I'm really enjoying mine.

Water is also good, especially if you pay attention to the Tidal Force mechanic. Decent ST, excellent AoE, a variety of damage types (smash, cold, fire), with some KD for minor crowd control. And visually quite appealing!

Plus the damage on Fire/ Maybe an Oni theme...

I was happy to see the fix. Now I have to figure out which secondary to pair with Fire 😃

Thank you. I missed the hidden contents 🙂

I just checked, Dragon's Tail doesn't seem to have had a radius increase, still at 8'. Can't tell from description if this is intended, an oversight, or that the description wasn't updated properly.

This right here. I can wait a long time waiting for a team or asking to join a team... But the moment I take the lead and form one in LFG chat, I'm beating back a tide of requests to join, about 90% of the time. Even when I form a great xp team and we have fun for an hour or two, the moment I step down to leave, no one wants the star and they willingly let the team disband for lack of a leader to step up. The players are out there. The leaders are few. FWIW I play on Everlasting on weird off hours, almost never on prime time.

Very welcome 😃 Honestly I prolly won't chase the extra recharge set bonuses with the MM ATOs in the three demon pet summons powers. Things come up often enough without the extra 20% recharge and I don't want recharge bonuses directly in the pet enhancements they water down the Acc, Dam, End! Demon Prince really chugs blue, so especially EndRed on him. I went Cardiac alpha because with dark miasma the pets aren't defense capped, and in particularly tough battles they might go down if something not debuffed hits them hard. This can sometimes require resummoning in battle and it's helpful to have a lot of endurance reduction for that. With Cardiac and other boosts, blue bar is never a concern, even during the most hectic battles. Plus Cardiac also improves other useful things, like Fear, Resistance, and Range. The nice thing about Dark miasma, is that even without pets you can contribute a lot, even to your own survival, so long as you are proactive.

+1 Beasts/Time as awesome.

Here's my current build. I'm working on replacing the IOs it the three demon pet powers to the MM set IOs, but otherwise its all in place. With all the debuffs, resists and decent (if not stellar) Ranged Defense, its tough enough to stand in crowds of +4 purple mobs. As long as you keep the debuffs up, your demons are also pretty touch, having excellent resistances. Doesn't hurt that the Prince has some Defense as well. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1556;733;1466;HEX;| |78DA6593D94F534114C667BA886D410AA52DD0B294DD520A55DC9E4804353134212| |12C6A4C73532E7063CB252D447DF45FF04140C2A289C427135FD4F8A4897179D768| |A2C168DC1394447D24F578BF436F93DEB4F9CD9C65CE376766E297064AEF9CBAD22| |7A4BB3FA564B389B8929D5333696D66C21E57A6B4A45508E11C50D3FA8C9ED692D9| |129A86CC98C4F07C9A5C51238027DACC54A020E2F8FCE4647440C95C48C435259B5| |6846B48D753D193296D6A7AAEDC180FAACA849AC94E6BB34E633E3CABAA139508D3| |334935A14F26C6B4542A7862564B460BABEBF329567CB99A9445E8BFE416FCE5ECE| |207216613B62D70CFA645883AE27BD0F71BF6960F568323B67CAE4D7860DB5BC5F4| |824E1FD30F8E528E448E55DE95866DFF2D69ACDFB5C1EC449D318AB572ACF59EC5B| |0953E643E00F7DD0797691F76C40A7B08F90E6A7F89447E8917B5F6ED80EE77C8EB| |DE1146CD71AAE540BE74ECEA621D2BB4B68B7BE47A8E7DB89F809517C1AAA7CC67A| |02F825C176928635D6501F8CE50AD72E8B297B3AECA03F055C7987EF4A2D6C7AC42| |DC2A69A9602D157F5123F89DD86E13F51F714EF57FB0B7FAFF85888D2FB0E6599A7| |A38D7F315B18D5F989FC0D067E626EA85DE8215B40F2FF7C7CB9A9BDDA0877C7EF6| |F96FA37670035C23BD355CB3661C7A5A46987CDFDAF8BEB5F523A78DEFC1390A0BF| |0F907DE4057F36BE62BB0FD25D8441AEA58431D9FDBEEF9AD9386063E8306BE1B8B| |646B625D4D2BB0B5AF32D7C0F03AF306F326789E74B5B2AE56EE5784FB17E1BE46B| |E818FA8F51DACABA3431AE7D4D5023E265F276BE8BC865E762F3017C1D812F33A73| |19DC2E1522CA7B8AD64297F009D1C3B61E3EA3A0F946E9479F0817597A8A2CB122C| |BC1224B6F9165B0C812372DB921F3E50B69781DEEFCFBCE6D39C92BD9DB8CFDFC32| |6D528E623FB6D3E8DDCFC27863B56DD362918D58C1721537CAB200F6864D3D870AC| |6870BC647C2F9D79E3B5A303E16CEDFE45C1F3DA3186AE5FE01C214065A| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Ugh yes. I meant ninjas play best melee too

Ninjas/Time is what you are looking for. Redlynne has a guide around this forum. Time with IOs will get your ninjas Defense capped and your heal will keep them topped off from the bleedthrough. Plus the debuffs, slows and other Timey Wimey goodness Time plays best in melee range. Ninjas are mostly melee. It's a great pairing. 🙂

I can put one up for you tomorrow after I'm off work. I just leveled mine to Incarnate, very fun and effective solo or teamed. I've done several TFs and an MSR. No sweat.

I'm going to recommend Beasts/Kinetics Mastermind. Why? Kinetics offers little in the way of protection for the caster. Beasts grabs aggro for you and does your tanking. You are safer. Kinetics is very good for melee positioning. Beasts are all-melee pets. Kinetics has very little way of protecting MM pets. But Beasts can self-cap pet Defense with Fortify the Pack and IOs. While Beasts do not gain from -recharge, they do gain from +damage. Kinetics can turn Beasts into a chainsaw of doom. Beast/Kin offers solid Kin buffs to a group (and their pets). They have heals. Their pets offer solid damage and tanking when solo. They will be very sturdy all on their own. Its a very complimentary pairing.