Best Mastermind power set combos?

[Twinner]

I am really impressed with Demon and Darkness, however I know for strictly min/max abilities, this isn't the best choice. What do people feel is the best min/max choice for Mastermind? 

[BGSacho]

In my opinion, Demon/Dark is one of the most min-maxiest choices you can make, in terms of overall "viability" of your character. It's not the top dog in any particular area(except maybe debuffing enemies), but it consistently ranks n2 in almost every category, meaning you have a very well-rounded character able to handle anything that comes at them.

Here are the reasons why. I'll start with why each set is an individual powerhouse, and then why the combination is incredibly synergistic.

Demons

 

Theres no question that Demons is a top-tier primary set. They do amazing damage, they're sturdy, they have utility, -res, a variety of damage types, they make everyone ears's bleed with their shrieks of joy. Here are some highlights of why Demons is a min-maxers' top choice:

- Damage. Demons and Thugs are the overall top-tier MM dps sets. Other sets(ninjas in ST, bots in aoe) can beat them in particular scenarios, but in overall gameplay, both Thugs and Demons do extremely well. They also provide their damage in smash, fire, cold and toxic varieties, giving you options vs certain tankier mobs(especially high s/l res ones).
- Resilience - Demons are very robust on their own, especially to burst damage. They'll be sporting 75-80% s/l res(yes, pets can go up to 90%) plus a bunch of misc resistances. MM pets are very prone to dying to burst damage going through defense, even if you have good healing, and Demons are the toughest pets in that regard.
- Utility. You've got a pretty decent amount of -res - in regular combat, you're usually looking at 40-50% -res. They also sport a +22% s/l(and a little bit of others) shield to the MM, which makes slotting much more relaxed - you can drop fighting and still easily achieve 75% res, for example. The Ember Demon has some OK heals, but they're mostly irrelevant when combined with /Dark. The demons also sport a hefty amount of -recharge, thanks to the Prince and the Cold Demonling

- Speaking of the Prince, he's a champ. Challenging the Bruiser for the N1 spot in pet DPS, he also provides a spammable hold(which does damage!), a massive -recharge debuff and even an aoe sleep. He also has a reasonable amount of baseline def(although he sacrifices some of the innate res that the other demon pets have), which means he can also be reasonably softcapped.
- The Gargoyle is no slouch either. He competes with Jounin(!!) in terms of ST damage(although the ember demon is a let down there), and is a slight runner-up to Enforcers(!!) in terms of AoE damage. He's also very sturdy(80% s/l res), so your frontline(you, garg and prince) is fairly resistant to gibs.
- The demonlings are the baseline highest dps T1 pets, but their lack of procs kind of puts them behind Punks or even Soldiers. Still, their well-rounded kit of ST and aoe damage, plus their high survivability makes them great pets.
- The demon primary attacks are really good. Lash can be slotted with procs and Force Feedback(FF) for a roughly +15% recharge bonus if spammed dutifully. It also provides ~10% -res on top of everything else you have. Crack Whip is "nice" but the end cost can be rough. The attacks are also very stylish, which means you're not just minmaxing stats, but also looks 😁


Dark is also a powerhouse. It's a set that has a single throwaway power(Black Hole), two good-in-every-other-set-but-mediocre-in-dark(Fearsome Stare, Petrifying Gaze), and a bunch of powers that are absolutely OP. Each one of the core /Dark powers usually provides a combination of effects "normal" sets will see spread out over several powers. It's just that good. Dark provides copious amounts of debuffs, healing, -res, a resurrect, an OK defensive power, and an extra OP pet.

- Twilight Grasp - yeah, this one's just insane. It heals(more than Time's heal), at a lower recharge and endurance cost(you can actually make it cost practically 0 endurance if you slot theft of essence). But that's just the beginning. It also provides *stackable* -hit, -dmg and -regen. You can comfortably stack it 3 times if you're casting it regularly, and the Dark Servant provides another 3 casts(which have higher stats than yours, since he gets Defender scaling, of course). It's just brutal.
- Tar Patch is one of the best -res powers - 30% on a long duration and fairly short CD, allowing you to sometimes stack 2 on top of each other. It also happens to be a slow(sure, why not?). It's also very easy on the slotting - just throw 2 -recharge reduction basic IOs and you're good to go.
- Darkest Night is a strong debuff to neuter boss mobs, doubly so because your Dark Servant will also cast it.
- Howling Twilight is an aoe stun and fear which also debuffs -regen massively, and happens to res people as well. Yeah, most sets get these as individual effects, but not /Dark.

The combined power of your + the Dark Servant's debuffs is staggering. We're talking about 2 holds, fear, stun, layered with a thick sauce of -150% hit(!) and -90% damage(!!). At those values, even +4 AVs start to take notice. 

Dark also allows some pretty rad slotting options - Shadow Fall gives you a place to slot the +3% def IOs if you have nowhere else, opening up some build options. Fearsome Stare and Dark Servant both accept Siphon Insight, which allows you to super-stack +s/l def(and some global accuracy to save you slots elsewhere). Three of the key powers don't really need much slotting - Tar Patch, Howling Twilight and Darkest Night can operate well with just 2-3 slots of basic IOs.


What happens when you add Demons and Dark together? Well, let's mix and see:

Demons have two primary weaknesses in terms of resilience - low def, and res holes. Dark plugs the res holes really nicely(buffing most of their resistances to ~50%). There's no powerset that can reasonably softcap the demons, but thanks to /Dark's debuffs, you can effectively softcap them in many situations. For the rest of the situations, there's tankerminding.

Speaking of tankerminding, Demons/Dark is an amazing set for it. You have extra res from the demons, opening up possibilities of not taking fighting and still sporting 75% s/l res. Dark provides middling def but great set bonuses, allowing you to either softcap s/l def with scorpion shield, or get to the 32.5% purple insp breakpoint, while also relying mostly on your ridiculous debuffs to keep you alive. You're also gifted with multiple heals to handle incoming damage, and the demons are resilient enough to take stray hits and live.

Dark's one hole in terms of debuffs is -recharge, which Demons provide ample amounts of. This means that with Demons/Dark, you're debuffing every stat your enemies have. It's almost like you're fighting lower level mobs(and thanks to the -res, they'll die as fast too!)


Demons/Dark does have its weaknesses. Most MM builds are a house of cards and Demons/Dark doubly so. If your line of debuffs fails you, you have fairly middling defenses. Without constant support, it doesn't matter that the demons have high res, they'll still die because of their lack of -def. Knockback will be the bane of your existence(and you will love and praise and cherish Clarion Core).

Overall, I would call Demons/Dark an incredibly min-maxed combo, in terms of being able to excel in every situation. You won't have the best tools for each individual case, but the builds that do usually make up for it by having significant weaknesses in other areas. Demons/Dark is just good at everything.



BTW, petition to swap Dark Miasma for Darkness Affinity, so you can have softcapped def + 90% res demons running around next to a softcap def + 75% res MM. Yes please.

Edited January 7, 2020 by BGSacho

[BGSacho]

Here are some other builds that are min-maxed in a similar manner, to provide you with access to good defense, high dps and good AV killing potential. As you can see, they both have notable weaknesses. The grass is just not that much greener.

Bots/Time - Time has many strengths, but its biggest issue is its lack of -regen. Here come bots, providing all you need. The bots generally lack ST damage, but do great AoE. /Time is a fairly hands-off set which allows you to rotate 2 MM attacks(thanks to the copious +recharge of /time), bolstering your single target DPS. With bots + farsight, you can softcap without having to take power boost, which means you can also take a res shield, bringing you to a fairly ridiculous softcap def + softcap res. Even then though, bots/time is more of a steady "I'll kill it eventually" build than the absurd dps the other variations can dish out.

Thugs/Traps - Thugs/Traps is the ultimate house of cards. When everything goes right, it's positively insane. Unfortunately, you're juggling a bunch of extra pets, small auras(20ft and 30ft) and generally have tons of ways for critical failure. But let's ignore that for now and focus on the strengths. Thugs are fairly self-sufficient, but they lack -regen(poison trap, check), and struggle to softcap their defenses on their own(FFG - check), and they have low res(welp, you can't have it all). They have absolutely brutal dps, with enforcers tricked out in procs demolishing the AoE dps charts(backed up by the arsonist!), and the Bruiser of course is just a ST monster. Thanks to their superior slotting options, they're not too far from Demons in terms of -res - you can slot achilles heel into enforcers and mortar, and annihilation into caltrops/mortar. The seeker drones are a neat gimmick to help you set up your area of doom, and the FFG provides some reasonable mez protection(although not the most important thing for MM - knockback). What this set really lacks is a reliable heal - triage beacon is just too slow on pets(and has a STUPID recharge for some reason), and taking medicine strains your power picks. Still, when everything goes right, Thugs/Traps is probably the highest performing set in terms of pure DPS output.

 

Thugs/Dark - it mostly plays like Demons/Dark, with slight differences in how you put together the build

Demons/Thermal - really really tanky demons(90% res!) and a smattering of everything else(heals, -regen, -res, etc..). The lack of slotting options on multiple powers make it a bit ehh. 


And a few more builds that are even more skewed to a particular strength, but with more glaring weaknesses:

Thugs/Storm - pure raw DPS. Thugs have reasonable defenses to kinda-sorta survive on their own. Works better than Demons/Storm, counterintuitively(you'd think -res + storm damage = good!), just because the thugs are more survivable on their own. Subpar healing, no -regen.

Bots/Traps - Trades healing/+recharge from /Time to capitalize on gadgetry from Traps. You pick two spots - Spot A is your circle of friendship, and Spot B is the pit of doom, and Bots/Traps allows you to maximize the love and happiness radiating from the circle, and the pain and sorrow in the pit.

Ninja/Time - lulzy ST dps with fairly robust defenses. Struggles with AoE, lacks -regen.

Edited January 7, 2020 by BGSacho

[Redlynne]

6 hours ago, BGSacho said:

Ninja/Time - lulzy ST dps with fairly robust defenses. Struggles with AoE, lacks -regen.

Hella fun to play Ninja/Time/Mace though! 

[Force Redux]

Robots/FF - indestructible tank. Classic.

 

*/Time - anything works terrific with time. Thugs, Demons, Robots are your top tier**.

 

Necro/Dark. The sheer control and debuffs are incredible. And so much room for procs.

 

**Beast/Time is not the community top pick, but IMO it's tied with my Thugs/Time for overall disgustingly effective damage monster.  Time loves melee. Beasts love melee. You don't need to use Fortify Pack, so your damage stays buffed.  The pets are always where you expect them to be, right next to you. And they are so quick and responsive, its easy to joust with them, even in TinPex with Battle Maiden and her blue flames of death. Highly recommend this combo. I went Leviathan for the shark immobility and armor, though I admit it was partly for flavor. I find I do not need Power Boost at all.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Force Redux

[Frosticus]

On 1/7/2020 at 12:36 PM, BGSacho said:

And a few more builds that are even more skewed to a particular strength, but with more glaring weaknesses:

Thugs/Storm - pure raw DPS. Thugs have reasonable defenses to kinda-sorta survive on their own. Works better than Demons/Storm, counterintuitively(you'd think -res + storm damage = good!), just because the thugs are more survivable on their own. Subpar healing, no -regen.

survivabity isnt really an issue on my demon/storm and it definitely does more damage. 

4 digit dps is a very selective club.

[You]

Is Ninja/Storm still in the 4 digit dps club?

[Coyote]

I rated Demon/Storm as the highest DPS on paper. The reason is that Demons is high damage and Storm is high damage.... but Demons debuffs Resistance, which multiplies its damage. And Storm's. And Storm debuffs resistance, which multiplies its damage. And that of Demons.

The only issue is Endurance, especially if you use the personal attacks (and you should for max DPS).

 

Ninja/Storm wouldn't be, because even with Ninja a bit ahead of Demons, they're not providing 50% or better -Resistance, which would make a big boost to Storm's damage.

[tjknight]

I'm probably going to be laughed off the boards for these two..

 

but I believe an often overlooked combo is Necro/Thermal. You get resists that rival Demon/Thermal, variety in damage types (dark,. toxic), Forge on the Knights is awesome, and then to -to hit debuffs from the pets are nice. Combined with Thermals strong heals and debuffing powers it's a very strong combo.  Oh and Zombies can self-heal as well, making them even tankier. 

 

Another overlooked option is Bots/Cold, I know it might look a little weird, but you get high defense pets combined with a solid Buff/debuff set.  

 

So if you want something powerful that's a little bit different, either one is a solid choice IMHO> 

[Force Redux]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:31 AM, Twinner said:

I am really impressed with Demon and Darkness, however I know for strictly min/max abilities, this isn't the best choice. What do people feel is the best min/max choice for Mastermind? 

To come back to the OP, demons/dark is a powerhouse. It was, has been, and always will be a solid choice. 

 

Dark ranks up there with Time as the best (IMO) secondaries for MMs, each for entirely different reasons.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Force Redux

[TheSpiritFox]

It depends on what you want to min max tbh because Masterminds can take on so many different roles. Blasters, you want to min max there's exactly one goal. Damage. Damage damage and more damage. If you're a tank? It's pure survivability and after that it's being able to generate aggro. 

 

Masterminds can be one of the top DPS on the team. They can be one of the strongest in tanking and aggro management. They can play multiple team support roles, healing, buffs, debuffs, lots of soft control and occasional hard control. 

 

No mastermind can top every one of those categories at once. So then the question becomes, what roles do you want your MM to play and how well do you want them to do each? 

 

If you want to tank, Demons/nature is genuinely hard to beat. Demons are tough as shit before incarnates and nigh unkillable after incarnates with the healing that a demons/nature can throw out, plus it's a solid debuff set with buffs that are as useful to your pets as they are to your team. But Thugs/time, Beast/Nature, and Bots/traps will still give it a run for it's money tanking if properly outfitted. And this is just tanking damage, not like holding aggro specifically. 

 

If you want to do the most damage in the game of anything that walks, Beast, Thugs or Demons with storm is frightening. 

 

If you want the supportiest builds, Pair anything with Cold, Dark, Traps, Time, or Nature and build for recharge. My thugs/time has all his buffs close to perma. 8 seconds off on Chrono shift, farsight is a 2 minute duration and 1:12 recharge lol. It doesn't stack, but that becomes useful when you need to drop a gang war and then buff them a little so they don't die immediately. 

 

Aggro management? Pick Thugs or demons and pair with a debuff/soft control set and toss bonfire into the build. You'll neuter entire spawns and thugs especially, double gang war saves lives. I never tankermind. Who needs it. Spamming provoke sucks and you have to do it constantly to keep the aggro on you. Let your pets take the alpha and open up with some debuffs and controls and keep your team buffed and healed lol and you manage aggro by taking enough of it that what's left doesn't murder your team and they can pick targets and kill stuff. I've tanked an ITF as the only non squishy and had only a few individual deaths before. MMs can manage aggro pretty well if we're allowed to lead as the tank. 

Edited January 10, 2020 by TheSpiritFox

[eknudson]

On 1/8/2020 at 7:58 PM, tjknight said:

I'm probably going to be laughed off the boards for these two..

 

but I believe an often overlooked combo is Necro/Thermal. You get resists that rival Demon/Thermal, variety in damage types (dark,. toxic), Forge on the Knights is awesome, and then to -to hit debuffs from the pets are nice. Combined with Thermals strong heals and debuffing powers it's a very strong combo.  Oh and Zombies can self-heal as well, making them even tankier. 

 

Another overlooked option is Bots/Cold, I know it might look a little weird, but you get high defense pets combined with a solid Buff/debuff set.  

 

So if you want something powerful that's a little bit different, either one is a solid choice IMHO> 

I'd say that's a very bold response. Somebody comments on the most popular MM build, and you suggest looking at the #80 and #68 most popular builds as worth considering.  I know personally that bots/cold works beautifully so now I'm kind of curious about necro/thermal.

[Carnifax]

On 1/11/2020 at 7:36 AM, eknudson said:

I'd say that's a very bold response. Somebody comments on the most popular MM build, and you suggest looking at the #80 and #68 most popular builds as worth considering.  I know personally that bots/cold works beautifully so now I'm kind of curious about necro/thermal.

Necro / Nature is also interesting once you start slotting for +recharge and the AoE buffs start approaching perma, stacked with the -ToHit and Lich control.

 

Id still say Demon / Nature is tougher though. But then you also have to put up with the noise and bulk of demons. 

[rshacklef0rd]

No one mentioned /rad.  Would bots/rad work well?

[DR_Mechano]

Bots/Traps is basically the classic 'I need this single target to die!' type build. Bots may lack in single target but they make up for it with strong -regen especially when combined with the Poison Gas traps -1000% regen and also the only hold strong enough in the game to hold an AV through purple triangles, it can stack acid mortar for juicy -def and -res when set up if combined with caltrops and the -res proc in that. Good defenses and Offenses overall.  With Bonfire, fireball and the bots inherent AoE it also has nice capabilities there too.

 

The only problem is that the Bots primary self heal power SUCKS forcing you to spec into Medicine. Now on a very tight build that means dropping things like Hasten since you're normally taking either flight + Hover, The Leadership set, the Fighting pool to boost your own defenses AND Medicine.

[BGSacho]

On 1/26/2020 at 6:52 PM, rshacklef0rd said:

No one mentioned /rad.  Would bots/rad work well?

Unfortunately, /Rad is not an optimal set for MM. The core problems that MMs need to deal with are:

- Pets are fragile - The pets do great damage if they can stay on target, but dying is really disruptive, as they not only need to be resummoned, but also need to have x2 equip cast on them to have their whole powerset available. This usually means the primary concern for MMs is improving pet survivability.
- Pets are weird - they don't really benefit from some of the best buffs as much as players do. They don't gain anything from +Recharge, and +Damage buffs are rather mediocre for them(due to a lot of their damage coming from procs, and also the pets tend to be pretty close to their damage cap, so there's only so much benefit they get).
- MMs are like controllers in the sense that buff powers have way less effectiveness than a Defender.

All this means that MMs gravitate either towards defensive buff sets, or debuff sets. 

So what does /Rad have? Let's compare it to /Dark and /Time, two top choices for MMs. /Dark is an amazing debuff set, while /Time is a great defensive buff set.

- An AoE heal(Radiant Aura) - quite useful for MMs, but both /Dark and /Time have superior options.
- A large offensive buff in Accelerate Metabolism - unfortunately, pets don't benefit from the +Recharge and only marginally benefit from the +Recovery. /Time's Chrono Shift provides most of these effects. /Dark doesn't really have an offensive buff to compare, but there's Shadow Fall which provides 6% def and a little bit of exotic resistance.
- OK defensive debuffs - A large -Hit(Infection), a slow(Lingering), a little bit of -Dmg(Enervating Field), and a pbaoe mez(Choking Cloud). Unfortunately the overall numbers are only slightly better than /Time's and worse than /Dark's(before Dark Servant!) 
- Good offensive debuffs - -Def(Infection), -Res(Enervating), -Regen(Lingering). /Time can match two of those but lacks the -Regen. /Dark doesn't have -Def, but has much more -res(thanks to being able to stack Tar Patch) and roughly comparable -Regen
- Some unique effects - Fallout and EM Pulse. EM Pulse's effects are great, but its cooldown/duration ratio is not good. Fallout is also amazing, but it depends on having dead players around. Comparatively, Farsight provides an amazing +16%/+24% defense, allowing you to softcap pets easily, and /Dark doubles up on all its defensive debuffs through the Dark Servant(who has Defender power scaling!) 

As you can see, the set roughly compares to /Time and /Dark in the regular set of effects it has, but the "big guns" - the big buff and the unique effects - just don't have enough oomph in them compared to other sets. This doesn't mean that Bots/Rad is impossible to play - bots have decent defense even on their own, and given a good group, /Rad can shine with its unique powers. It just does much better on other ATs, who don't have the headache of babysitting pets. 

Edited January 29, 2020 by BGSacho

[Sura]

On 1/7/2020 at 2:23 PM, BGSacho said:

BTW, petition to swap Dark Miasma for Darkness Affinity, so you can have softcapped def + 90% res demons running around next to a softcap def + 75% res MM. Yes please.

That's Necro/Sonic.  So overlooked I'm always suspicious that there's some sort of "Fight Club" rule about it. 

 

All those fully resistant pets, and a secondary that by itself makes teams love you.

[Ironscarlet]

54 minutes ago, Sura said:

That's Necro/Sonic.  So overlooked I'm always suspicious that there's some sort of "Fight Club" rule about it. 

 

All those fully resistant pets, and a secondary that by itself makes teams love you.

Really Sura!!!! We are going to have to talk about this.....

 

 

Next thing your going to say is put KB to KD IO in Sonic Repulsion and turn off the volume.

 

Cap resistant pet and player

Pet heal them selves

Def cap S/L

Massive  res de buffs

KD crowd control

cool glow on pets

 

WHO WANTS THIS STUFF everyone go back to your /time character pls

and lets be real people hate us on teams because they can't hear themselves.

"what's that you want me to turn it off"

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Ironscarlet

[Brutal Justice]

I play a bots/trick arrow that’s really starting to come together.  He’s been in holding until the pet changes went live.  

 

I find the bots help pick up the holes trick arrow has.  Trick arrow doesn’t have useful -regen, the t9 has such poor duration vs recharge it’s fairly useless.  The bots bring the -regen.  

 

Trick arrow doesn’t have a heal.  Bots heal themselves and you can pick up repair to heal them more if you like.  Bots are also quite durable out of the box.  

 

Now for synergy.  With pets staying at range, glue arrow is helpful for survival and damage.  Enemies can’t run out of the glue like they can with tar patch so it’s more effective at keeping things in the burn patches and away from you and your pets.  

 

Disruption arrow is stackable just like tar patch and can be fired into walls, ceilings, etc making its placement very versatile.  Add in acid arrow which can take two -res procs and damage procs and you have -res for all occasions.  Acid arrow is somewhat meh on its own but procced out it’s awesome.  

 

Single target immob for keeping bosses and avs at range and still in their burn patches.  Ice arrow filled with damage procs is a big hitter.  Bots easily light oil slick for even more fire.  With the procability of trick arrow you’re bringing your own solid damage just by using your secondary.  

 

Now I just can’t decide between bonfire or a shield and to me that’s a good problem to have.  All I know is when I show up to a mob it’s like you’re in your own Michael Bay movie.  Explosions and fire everywhere.  It’s glorious.   

[KelvinKole]

I love sonic resonance and have always wanted to try a mastermind with it, but masterminds have always been the archetype I have a hard time staying with. If i were to really do it this time, what pets pair best with sonic resonance? 

[Maxzero]

On 1/9/2020 at 6:10 AM, Frosticus said:

survivabity isnt really an issue on my demon/storm and it definitely does more damage. 

4 digit dps is a very selective club.

 

Is it really?

 

I have my current Thugs/Storm all min maxed out and have taken a break from CoH. Making a new uber build would be fun.

 

From messing around in Mids Demons seem a lot more restricted when it comes to procs. Bruiser can run KB damage proc very well while Enforcers can run 2x -def damage procs just as well. Thugs can softcap to all Def with Storm while Demons do not even get close.

[Coyote]

Demons are Resist-based pets, so while they won't soft-cap Defense they still have good defenses. Don't know about better or worse than Thugs, but definitely on the better side for MMs.

 

Demons may not be able to take Achilles Heel, but there are other ways to apply it. Just as an example, Tornado... and having the lower tier pets apply it means that it has a weaker debuff due to the level difference. 2-3 Tornados may not be as good at applying it as 2 Enforcers, but... not that much difference. Meanwhile, however, Demons put out a LOT of -Res themselves. I think about -16% from the Tier 1, -18% from the Tier 2, and probably about -30% from the MM (if you can afford to attack regularly, which as a Stormie will be hard... but Ageless may be enough to keep up with it). So that -50-70%, depending on your attack rate, is far better than any other MM primary, and it boosts the damage from Storm by a lot.

[Maxzero]

1 hour ago, Coyote said:

Demons are Resist-based pets, so while they won't soft-cap Defense they still have good defenses. Don't know about better or worse than Thugs, but definitely on the better side for MMs.

 

Demons may not be able to take Achilles Heel, but there are other ways to apply it. Just as an example, Tornado... and having the lower tier pets apply it means that it has a weaker debuff due to the level difference. 2-3 Tornados may not be as good at applying it as 2 Enforcers, but... not that much difference. Meanwhile, however, Demons put out a LOT of -Res themselves. I think about -16% from the Tier 1, -18% from the Tier 2, and probably about -30% from the MM (if you can afford to attack regularly, which as a Stormie will be hard... but Ageless may be enough to keep up with it). So that -50-70%, depending on your attack rate, is far better than any other MM primary, and it boosts the damage from Storm by a lot.

 

I don't use Ach Heel in the Henchmen themselves. Enforcers are too slot tight as is with +def, 2 x -def Damage procs and then regular damage slotting.

 

Looking in Mids I just can't see how they can compare defensively. You get a 5% res shield from Ember Demon and a weak heal on a 30 second CD.

 

My Enforcers basically give +17% DEF ALL between them. The difference is striking. It's not like Thug resists are bad either. They get +35% from Pet IOs as is. On a Bruiser thats already to enough to get him to 60% S/L with softcap Def.

 

I hate resummoning my pets because unlike other MMs as a /Storm I have PLENTY of powers to spend my time on.

[Coyote]

Well, the Demons start off with solid Resists (26%) to several attacks, and the Ember Demon adds about 20% to S/L. With the pet IOs that's about 80% Resists to S/L for everyone but the Ice Demon, who adds some Defenses to that. Then you get the Fire/Cold resist from Steamy Mist... the Demons vary in resists  based on type, but the average elemental resist is about the same as S/L for the fire/cold ones, and 12% less for the hellfire versions. That's pretty solid resistance.  Defense would be a bit nicer since it would cover Psy, Nrg, Neg, and Toxic, and be more consistent across the damage types, but it actually helps that their main strength is S/L which is most of the incoming damage.

 

I don't know if my resist numbers are accurate, though... the Ember Demon has a 13% and a 6% Resist shield listed (unslotted), and I think one is for the pets and one is for the summoner. I assumed the larger number is for the pets, but if it's the lower number, then the resists are about 10% lower. They do fine... overall damage mitigation isn't as good, but it's also less subject to -Defense debuffs.

[Redknight]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:25 PM, Force Redux said:

Robots/FF - indestructible tank. Classic.

 

*/Time - anything works terrific with time. Thugs, Demons, Robots are your top tier**.

 

Necro/Dark. The sheer control and debuffs are incredible. And so much room for procs.

 

**Beast/Time is not the community top pick, but IMO it's tied with my Thugs/Time for overall disgustingly effective damage monster.  Time loves melee. Beasts love melee. You don't need to use Fortify Pack, so your damage stays buffed.  The pets are always where you expect them to be, right next to you. And they are so quick and responsive, its easy to joust with them, even in TinPex with Battle Maiden and her blue flames of death. Highly recommend this combo. I went Leviathan for the shark immobility and armor, though I admit it was partly for flavor. I find I do not need Power Boost at all.

 

 

Could you link me your beast/time build please?  I'm a new player and definitely interested in playing a beast MM as my first MM.