Danakir Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 So I've seen it everywhere that Mercs are basically hot garbage. Which is heartbreaking because I have a *really* good thematic concept that cannot work without that powerset. I'm hoping that judicious play and the right secondary might take them from dumpster tier to decent. But before I make the effort of actually going to do that, I'd need advice and the confirmation of people who actually know what they're doing. So, forum, please help me out. Is there no hope and I'm fighting a losing battle or is there this One Weird Trick that'll make the primary not suck quite so much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarillo Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 A "bad" Mastermind set is like, I dunno, a "bad" winning lottery ticket. Sure, you might not be set for life, but it's still a pretty good thing. Mercs can handle just about anything you throw at 'em, just maybe not as well as bots or demons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danakir Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 Oh that's a big relief. Would Mercs be decent with Force Field as a secondary or would I really want to grab Traps instead to focus on debuffing resistances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxy Brain Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Both FF and Traps would work well, depending on how youd want to approach combat (all defense passively, or more active / busy mix). As mentioned, while an MM set may be bad in comparison to another MM set, the core setup is so strong compared to every other powerset in the game. While merc may be harder to play than the top pet sets, it will still crank out a ton of work ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andys71 Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Garbage? far from it, in my experience non of the MM primaries are Garbage. I have a Mercs/Dark and they kick ass. I cant/wont play Robots cause of the Stomping noise that drives me insane lol. find a secondary you like and as as long as you're having fun, whos to say what is best or worst ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayden_Mercy Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 I'm currently a lvl 33 Mercs/Traps running at +1 and equal to two heros and enjoying myself. Running alot of early morning, coffee drinking contact missions solo. Truthfully, I have to do something stupid to ever be in serious threat. I say go for it and enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobster Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 Oh that's a big relief. Would Mercs be decent with Force Field as a secondary or would I really want to grab Traps instead to focus on debuffing resistances? I took merc/ff to 40ish on live. It is perhaps the slowest, most boring (imho) combo possible (for my playstyle!). BUT, like all the other combos, it works. You can get a solid amount of def and status protection, and you have some minor KB control...you'll probably wind up taking medicine, and maybe all the slow medicine pool healing drives you crazy? Or not ? :P /traps will probably be more fun and engaging than /ff. I took a merc/storm to maxed incarnate, and found that combo plenty strong. /dark is fine as well...I would recommend anything other than empathy, pain, ff and sonic - unless you plan on primarily grouping, those powers all shine in groups, and can drag solo. You have to consider your pets abilities and behavior - merc/ isn't particularly favorable to the /kin pairing, for example, because your heal works best when pets are in melee. Guides: Mastermind Epics | Dominator Secondaries | Suggestions: Mastermind Epic Overhaul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scran Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Oh that's a big relief. Would Mercs be decent with Force Field as a secondary or would I really want to grab Traps instead to focus on debuffing resistances? I took a merc/storm to maxed incarnate How did you manage to keep your henchies alive solo using /storm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlynne Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 How did you manage to keep your henchies alive solo using /storm? Ever heard of HERDICANE ...? Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimpjorps Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 I've recently gotten a mercs/time MM to 50. I think the biggest weakness of mercs is just that they're very generalist pets that don't excel at anything in particular: they don't pour on the damage like ninjas or beasts, they don't have a variety of damage types like demons or necro, they aren't as resilient as bots, they don't have a big fun capstone attack like thugs, and almost all their attacks are in the form of short DOTs so you don't get the visceral thrill of big numbers. However, that just means that they're pretty well equipped to handle whatever they're thrown at, and they apply a lot of status effects that go well with a kind of "defendermind" playstyle where you're focused on team support rather than damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikazuki Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 I've played all kinds of MMs(except beasts, should try that sometime) Mercs/Traps was my first back on CoV's release, had a lot of fun with it, could solo +4s while leveling quite easily due to the heavy CC (back then we didnt have an option to set party size, so that means +4 x1 lol) and heck mercs is the only primary that can actually snipe pull, with the specops. That being said i did most of my villain carreer solo, once i started getting more into groups and tried out other MM primaries, i kinda started hating mercs. Mercs are a bit way too focused on CC, spec ops scatter mobs around with flashbang, your medic will knock things back with frag grenade, and there's the commando... almost everything your commando does knocks stuff back. He can even "snipe pull" with a rocket launcher scattering the target group everywhere. I kinda want to test mercs again on homecoming with overwhelming force on the commando to see if it gets more bearable, but dont think it'll bring mercs up to the level of bots/thugs/demons even so. I wouldnt say they are "hot garbage" as you can actually use them, i'd say they sit comfortably in the middle of the pack not excelling but not being unusable(without insane levels of optimization) like ninjas and beasts. Just be prepared to annoy the hell out of your team. pair it with /storm for maximum troll points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikerFox Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 I feel that Mercs has improved from CoV launch to i25. They're still not the greatest but underestimated by many. One of the main complaints was the Medic running into melee to use Brawl, and ultimately eating dirt seconds later. Devs fixed that by suppressing Brawl from the Medic's power pool when upgraded. With i25, all craftable enhancement types, useable by the pets, are open to them for slotting. A major one for Mercs are the Accurate Def Debuff IOs. Now they can equip the Shield Breaker proc to boost their dps a fair amount. Below is the pet damage data from a fight with a even level Death Mage boss. Keep in mind all this data is from a 10 second battle, initial hit to the DM's defeat. Soldiers are equipped with Achilles' Heel unique, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker procs; Spec-Ops are equipped with Lady Grey and Shield Breaker procs. Commando has no procs but I like the bonus damage so I may incorporate them later. Single :) shows procs from the Lady Grey IO; double :) :) shows procs from Shield Breaker IO. The ;D shows the debuff from Achilles' Heel. Damage procs activated 16 times in 10 seconds, around 84 damage per proc. It averages to about 134.4 dps from damage procs alone. But further testing, with a longer period of time, would be needed to sure-up the numbers. So that each pet cycles through all their powers, multiple of times. Also slotting the Commando with the same damage procs. Soldiers: Cliffjumper, Beachcomber Medic: Tailgate Spec-Ops: Smokescreen, Eagle-Eye Commando: Ironhide Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 10.77 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide blasts Death Mage with their Slug for 120.35 points of lethal damage! Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: You blast Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye snipes Death Mage with their SCAR Snipe for 105.01 points of lethal damage. Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Tailgate: You blast Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Cliffjumper: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Heavy Burst for 8.49 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: Smokescreen snipes Death Mage with their SCAR Snipe for 105.01 points of lethal damage. Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: You hit Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: You hit Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Smokescreen: You blast Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide shreds Death Mage with their Full Auto for 11.88 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye rattles Death Mage with their SCAR Heavy Burst for 12.31 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Burst for 10.7 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide blasts Death Mage with their Slug for 120.35 points of lethal damage! Beachcomber: Beachcomber shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Burst for 10.7 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Cliffjumper: Cliffjumper shreds Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Auto Fire for 3.61 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate blasts Death Mage with their SMG Burst for 10.7 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Beachcomber: You blast Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: You hit Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Eagle-Eye: You blast Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber blasts Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Burst for 12.18 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Eagle-Eye: Eagle-Eye blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Tailgate: Tailgate hits Death Mage with their Frag Grenade for 11.81 points of smashing damage! Tailgate: Tailgate hits Death Mage with their Frag Grenade for 18.46 points of lethal damage! Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Beachcomber: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Smokescreen: Smokescreen blasts Death Mage with their SCAR Burst for 15.53 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Smokescreen: You hit Death Mage for 89.17 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Cliffjumper: You reduce your targets damage resistance temporarily ;D Ironhide: Ironhide rattles Death Mage with their Burst for 19.81 points of lethal damage and reduces their defense! Beachcomber: Beachcomber rattles Death Mage with their Assault Rifle Heavy Burst for 10.07 points of lethal damage and slightly lowers their defense! Beachcomber: You hit Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus Lethal damage! :) :) Beachcomber: You blast Death Mage for 79.03 points of bonus negative energy damage! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desarix Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 I am playing a Merc/Cold Domination MM hoping to overcome some of the limitations relating to poor defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicoRaynn Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 I used to main a merc/traps MM back when the game was ‘live’ that did just fine. You don’t put up huge damage numbers but it’s fairly consistent across all enemy types you go against. The thing you do bring is a lot of debuffs (and the random CCs from pet moves). They’ll never be top of the charts (except on debuffs, seriously, those little machine guns can shred defenses quick) but they’re a solid choice especially if you group a lot. Just grab your leadership talents, sit in the back and direct your forces, and watch things fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlynne Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 So, to put it in PvP terms ... Mercs are more about delivering "pressure" than they are about "spike" in terms of damage throughput? Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicoRaynn Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 They definitely won’t be putting up those ‘holy crap’ damage numbers. But their roots and disorients work fairly well. If I remember right (I don’t PvP that often) thugs do much better, especially with gang war. PvP viability will depend on your secondary. Gotta have those heals so you can be a beast tank in body guard mode. The humanoid pets do make it easier to hide in the mix. Just use one of your tailor outfits to look just like your pet. Then you can incognito maul people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Rocket Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 I have a Mercs/Time, and he can handle most anything. But that's because Time can handle most anything. Is he hot garbage? No. Would he do better with almost any other primary? Yes. Doesn't mean it's horrible, but there's nothing you can do that will change the Mercs damage output being poor. And unlike Bots where hitting 32 changes them from "Oh god they kill so slowly" to OH GOD THEY KILL SO FAST!", the Commando and the final upgrade power don't really do a ton for Mercs. They're still not garbage or useless, but they're slow, and they'll always be slow, and there's not much you can do about it. Slotting an Achilles in every pet helps, but it's still not enough to make them anything like top tier damage. Also you will curse the Fir Bolg when you first reach Croatoa. You will curse them more than you have ever cursed anything in your life. There's a handful of secondaries I'd strongly recommend considering for Mercs however. Time - Time is just a top tier MM secondary in general. It's great mitigation (-ToHit, -Damage, -Recharge for the enemies, and +Defense for you and the pets) and you get tons of recharge out of it as well. It has CC built in (An ST hold and an AoE slow + chance to hold). It has a wide radius heal with HoT that makes it less timing sensitive, and better able to reach all your pets if they end up spread out. It's also *reasonably* passive, allowing you enough time to micro your Mercs to have *some* sort of chance of keeping them from spending all their time in melee. Dark - The other top tier MM Secondary. Focuses on -ToHit and CC, with a little bit of minor defense and resist help in the form of Shadow Fall. Also helps keep your pets from accidentally aggroing things by getting to close, with the stealth in Shadow Fall. Good heal, good debuffs, nice CC, Dark is Dark. Everyone knows it's good. Storm - No, really. Yes, the healing sucks, but as Mercs are all range, Hurricane is really useful for them, and more importantly, Freezing Rain is a great, stackable -res, which can help make up for your lack of damage. With sufficient recharge in your build, you can get 3 instances of FR going at once, for a staggering -90% resist to everything in the rain area. You also get Steamy Mist for a very small buff to defense and some decent resists (But only to a few odd damage types). Put a Sudden Acceleration KB->KD in Gale and spam it for chain knockdown as part of your mitigation strategy. Not going to lie and say it's top tier, but it works decently with Mercs. Cold - Shore up your Mercs' defenses with the ice shields, and bring even more -res to the field than Storm can. If it had a heal of any kind it would be perfect. Alas... Thermal - Thermal is an oft-underestimated and very solid set. It has resist shields that help a bit, and heals excellently, while also bringing some quite decent debuff to bear. Unfortunately the debuffs are all at the end of the power list, so they come quite late, and the resistance shields and healing aren't always enough to keep your fragile pets up. It doesn't have the obvious potency of defense based support like FF or Cold, but when your minions do get hit, they're at least less likely to die in one shot, and you have the healing to bring them back to full from anything short of being a red smear on the pavement. In the late game, you have -res to bring to bear, albeit not as much as Storm or Cold can manage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixa Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 I have a Mercs/Time, and he can handle most anything. But that's because Time can handle most anything. Is he hot garbage? No. Would he do better with almost any other primary? Yes. Doesn't mean it's horrible, but there's nothing you can do that will change the Mercs damage output being poor. And unlike Bots where hitting 32 changes them from "Oh god they kill so slowly" to OH GOD THEY KILL SO FAST!", the Commando and the final upgrade power don't really do a ton for Mercs. They're still not garbage or useless, but they're slow, and they'll always be slow, and there's not much you can do about it. Slotting an Achilles in every pet helps, but it's still not enough to make them anything like top tier damage. Also you will curse the Fir Bolg when you first reach Croatoa. You will curse them more than you have ever cursed anything in your life. There's a handful of secondaries I'd strongly recommend considering for Mercs however. Time - Time is just a top tier MM secondary in general. It's great mitigation (-ToHit, -Damage, -Recharge for the enemies, and +Defense for you and the pets) and you get tons of recharge out of it as well. It has CC built in (An ST hold and an AoE slow + chance to hold). It has a wide radius heal with HoT that makes it less timing sensitive, and better able to reach all your pets if they end up spread out. It's also *reasonably* passive, allowing you enough time to micro your Mercs to have *some* sort of chance of keeping them from spending all their time in melee. Dark - The other top tier MM Secondary. Focuses on -ToHit and CC, with a little bit of minor defense and resist help in the form of Shadow Fall. Also helps keep your pets from accidentally aggroing things by getting to close, with the stealth in Shadow Fall. Good heal, good debuffs, nice CC, Dark is Dark. Everyone knows it's good. Storm - No, really. Yes, the healing sucks, but as Mercs are all range, Hurricane is really useful for them, and more importantly, Freezing Rain is a great, stackable -res, which can help make up for your lack of damage. With sufficient recharge in your build, you can get 3 instances of FR going at once, for a staggering -90% resist to everything in the rain area. You also get Steamy Mist for a very small buff to defense and some decent resists (But only to a few odd damage types). Put a Sudden Acceleration KB->KD in Gale and spam it for chain knockdown as part of your mitigation strategy. Not going to lie and say it's top tier, but it works decently with Mercs. Cold - Shore up your Mercs' defenses with the ice shields, and bring even more -res to the field than Storm can. If it had a heal of any kind it would be perfect. Alas... Thermal - Thermal is an oft-underestimated and very solid set. It has resist shields that help a bit, and heals excellently, while also bringing some quite decent debuff to bear. Unfortunately the debuffs are all at the end of the power list, so they come quite late, and the resistance shields and healing aren't always enough to keep your fragile pets up. It doesn't have the obvious potency of defense based support like FF or Cold, but when your minions do get hit, they're at least less likely to die in one shot, and you have the healing to bring them back to full from anything short of being a red smear on the pavement. In the late game, you have -res to bring to bear, albeit not as much as Storm or Cold can manage. ah...thermal there is one achilles heel in thermal if you will. the -resist debuff portion of melt armor can actually itself be resisted, so only boss+ it does not provide it's full -resists. the achilles' heel proc does not have this issue as it forces the target to cast a spell on itself. multiple of this io do not stack but refreshes duration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Rocket Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 ah...thermal there is one achilles heel in thermal if you will. the -resist debuff portion of melt armor can actually itself be resisted, so only boss+ it does not provide it's full -resists. the achilles' heel proc does not have this issue as it forces the target to cast a spell on itself. multiple of this io do not stack but refreshes duration. That's true of all -res debuff powers, Freezing Rain and Sleet and Heat Loss, etc. However, -resist is resisted by the damage resistance of the mob itself, not affected by any other debuff resistance (Including boss resistance bonuses), so the way the math ends up working, is that all -resist debuffs act as a damage buff not subject to the damage cap. If you apply a -30% resist debuff to a mob, ANY mob, it means you will be doing 30% more damage than you were before. And yes, the Achilles Heel procs are unresistable so they will cut a 90% resist down to 70%, instead of down to 88% like a normal -20% debuff would do to a mob with 90% resist. But as you noted, it doesn't stack. Whereas Freezing Rain and such do stack, and in a weird pseudo-multiplicative way at that. That said, Thermal can't stack it's -res. I noted in my summary that it's not as good at it as some of the other sets I listed. It's more for keeping your pets alive and sustaining your DPS than increasing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorsmitersaw Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 can someone clarify to me why my dudes stand around and do nothing in defensive mode? That is the only mode in which I share damage with them right? Well I seem to only be able to get them to attack anything if I have them attack my target, which immediately pulls them out of defensive mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desarix Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 can someone clarify to me why my dudes stand around and do nothing in defensive mode? That is the only mode in which I share damage with them right? Well I seem to only be able to get them to attack anything if I have them attack my target, which immediately pulls them out of defensive mode. This is because they are in defensive and will only attack when something attacks you. Often even when they get attacked they will not do anything at all and continue to lose hp until you get hit. Use the command the default attack command aggressive and change it to defensive. So they will target and kill what you target with the command and go back to bodyguard mode after. What I normally do is use a debuff on a mob and the mob will attack me and then the pets react. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmalltalkJava Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Glad you posted this. It has given me some thing to think about for my Batman BvS nightmare apocalypse themed concept. Baseline MM Henchmen Defenses and Resist Values MM - Beast Pets - Pet Attack usage and some quick proc testing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grinningsphinx Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 more or less...they require some good slotting to be useful, which sacrifices going 6/6 on the mastermind arch sets though....unfortunate cant be helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly Rocket Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 The pets will attack anything that attacks you OR them in Defensive mode. But the thing is, there's a deliberate dead zone time when you switch them from any non-bodyguard stance, back to bodyguard mode in which they will not attack *anything*. This is to keep you from switching back and forth rapidly to enjoy the benefits of bodyguard mode while still being able to direct them more offensively. It's something like 5 seconds, I believe. So if you use an attack command, or set them to aggressive, or whatever, and them switch them back to bodyguard mode, there's a 5 second period where they will not respond to attacks. My solution is to just leave them on bodyguard and let them attack whoever they want instead of managing them with attack commands. I only really use Goto, Stay, and Follow commands to change their positioning when needed, all of which keep bodyguard mode on, so they never have the cooldown period where they won't fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackenBlue71 Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Way back when, I ran a Mercs/Traps MM. Mercs don't exactly do the most damage of all the MM pets, but they are fun. Unless you pick a secondary that eats up a lot of energy, I recommend taking at least Maneuvers from the Leadership power pool to go with them. (I used Maneuvers, Assault and Tactics.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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