tjknight

The draw for me is simple. A technology/gadget based control set.. a flavor or control that the has not previously existed for player characters.

I just wanted to say thank you JJ for what you do. I like your builds and often use them as references when I'm making my own. A lot of people in the game use this thread and it's helped so many and just thank you again.

I would be happy. To just be able to use existing NPC models as skins for my mastermind. I realize that gets tricky with the beast, demons and robots...

Robot/FF is so tanky that you'll eventually not even notice not having a heal. I also believe the Impervious Skin Unique works in Equip Robot. While the Numina, Regenerative Tissue, and Pancea procs work in Upgrade Robot as the protector Bots also can also heal others and trigger the procs. So should make your bots even tougher. You can pick up Aid Other etc.. from the pool powers if you want, there's certain room in any Force Field build to do so.

You can always look at it, as if your particular Spider isn't the average grunt. Perhaps they have access to comic booky high-tech items or magic items (jet boots, anti-grav belt, flight ring, etc...etc..). Or maybe they've studied a little magic, have a mutant talent, etc.. etc.. My Fortunata's non-spider abilities come from her experimenting with magic she's stolen from various mystical villain groups (CoT, Carnies, etc..). I even put it in her backstory :).

What Dominator primary/secondary is best for hard or challenging content?

I ❤️ Masterminds! They are a great all-arounder AT and can help a team fill in missing roles. In my opinion these are great easy to play MM's that provide great support Necro/Dark - You get to hit debuffs in both the primary and secondary. Necro/FF - A rarer combo, the -to hit in the primary and +defense in the secondary helps protect the team. Mercs/Nature - Defense debuffs in the primary and a range of buffs and debuffs in the secondary. Demons/Thermal or Demons/Cold - minor buffs from pets, heals, and shields. And in general Time and Dark are fantastic on all the primaries.

Another vote for Thugs/Time. Super easy to play if you are new to MMs. Thugs/Dark is fun too and also very easy to understand and play. Plus you get an extra pet, a powerful heal, strong debuffs, and controls. All which benefit the thugs mostly ranged playstyle.

None of the choices you're thinking about are bad ones. - Electric Affinity : This would provide nice +resist to your pets (Faraday Cage) which would layer nicely with your protector bots defense shields, and maintenance drone healing. You would have all the team/self buffs you need for most content. A well rounded set that goes well with all the MM primaries. - Radiation Emission: I'm going to buck popular consensus and say that "I like rad on MM's". Radiation Infection -to hit will help your pets defensively. Accelerate Metabolism won't affect your pets recharge rate, but the mez resistance, +damage, +recovery, and +movement speed buffs will. The heal is solid and you get a variety of other tools including crowd control. Rad isn't a bad choice IMHO. - Sonic Resonance: This grant a large amount of damage resistance to you and your pets. Disruption Field can be cast on a pet, and is nice -resistance debuff. Since you have maitenance drone + Protector Bots you don't need to worry about the lack of an AoE heal in this set so much. Your bots will be very tanky. If you take bot attacks you will be able to debuff regen and resistance significantly. Again no real bad choices here but as always YMMV

Right now I'm completely obsessed with playing Masterminds! I realize however that I've never played the storm secondary. I'm assuming Storm Summoning pairs best with ranged pet sets like Bots, Thugs, or Mercs? My guess is that Bots/Storm is the front runner here, due to their self-healing and shields. Any other ideas, suggestions, or thoughts on this topic?

*agrees* The revamped teleport pool is greatly underestimated.

Bots/Traps as well. I'm leveling up one right now. Second, probably Necro/Dark with the recent pet buffs, this is a powerhouse build. Lot's of debuff and control.

You can't go wrong with /Time... times good with all the MM primaries. Dark is also not bad with Mercs.. but then again Dark is also good with all the MM primaries.

Back in 2019, I created a Warshade using the old MF**NG Warshade guide. At that time, many people were playing, and leveling was quite easy. After reaching level 50 with the Warshade, I started playing other Archetypes, particularly my Fortunata and Corruptor. However, a few weeks ago, I logged into my Warshade and began playing it again. Despite not having the best IO slotting, I must say my Warshade feels incredibly powerful when teamed. He even performs well when exemped down to lower levels. One noticeably useful aspect is the expanded Teleport Pool and the ability to teleport directly to a target using a macro. I typically teleport to target, hit "Shadow Slip", then shift shape to apply a double-mire, and a final shift to Nova for a third damaging AOE. When I come across posts claiming that Kheldians fall behind other Archetypes, I'm not entirely convinced. Perhaps when playing solo, there might be some shortcomings, but when in a team, my Warshade feels unstoppable. I'm curious to know what others think. Kheldians deal decent damage, are highly durable, and extremely mobile. Any thoughts or opinions on this? What am I missing that leads others to consider Kheldians sub-par?

My Warshade has been sitting on the sidelines for awhile. So I really had no idea how good some of the buffs and changes to Kheldians were. All I have to say is HOLY COW Shadow Slip! It's fast activating and snatches all the enemies right to you... I had no idea it was as good as it is. Overall, Kheldians seem in a very good place right now.