Noob Questions?

[soulofangelus]

I've had a MM for a while now, and I really am not enjoying how she's playing. She's demons/pain, but honestly looking at this build, I'm not sure what I'm aiming for to make her more fun. I mainly play melee so I kind of know what I'm aiming for there, but IDK for MM. 

Am I trying to get any def/res caps? 
Just buffs for party and pets? With recharge and such?

I only seem to find specific guides to certain combos rather than general advice. 

Thanks in advance. :)
 

[Coyote]

For Demons/Pain you want to get all the Resist pet IOs and stack them with the shields that Demons put out plus their base Resists plus your World of Pain, to get them as resistant to damage as possible. Getting Defense in the build for pets is also nice, but not as important.

 

You want World of Pain permanent, and if you can get Painbringer to be permanent, you can throw it on the Demon Prince and have him lead the way into fights as he'll be very durable at that point.

 

Generally, there are 3 popular build types for MMs:

1: Tankermind build. You get Provoke and personal attacks, and build for high personal Defenses and Resists. Your effective HPs are very high due to Bodyguard, and AoE Heals heal your team multiple times, so you funnel the damage into you, but utilize the AoE heal effects to heal the same damage 7 times. Pets should be made durable as some will fight straggles and draw aggro, but in general they're not getting attacked as much so they don't need greatest defenses.

2: Defense build. You start with a pet set that has built-in Defense, and add a secondary that has +Defense buffs. That's Thugs, Beasts, Robots, Ninjas, and you add Cold, Time, or FF. Or go debuff -ToHit, with Dark or Rad.

3: Resist build. Same plan as Defense, but pairing up Resist-based pets with a secondary that buffs Resistance like Sonic, Thermal, or Pain.

 

In 2 or 3, you should try for some personal defenses, but they're not a major build constraint. More common is +Recharge.

[soulofangelus]

Thank you! I got the perma World of Pain and Painbringer as well as Hasten already in the build.

How does the leadership pool effect pets? Do I want to have it in my build? I have all but Victory Rush currently. Using Veng, Maneuvers, and Combat Jumping as LotG mules. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by soulofangelus

[Force Redux]

Leadership works on pets just as it does for teammates.

 

It's my opinion that every MM should have the Leadership pool, taking Maneuvers and Tactics at the very least, and Assault and Vengeance is there is room in the build.

 

Leadership is a force multiplier and the MM is the class that can make best use of it when going solo.

 

PSA: the Gaussian % for Build  Up procs poorly in your Tactics. Only slot it there if you are going for the six piece defense bonus to boost your MMs defenses. 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Force Redux

[soulofangelus]

Thanks for the leadership clarification. 🙂

I chose Crack Whip and Fireball with Assault over Tactics because I didn't have the slots, but I think I'm going to make a 2nd build (if I can justify the inf) without Crack Whip and maybe switching away from Heat Mastery. I just liked the Force Feedback and Sudden Acceleration in Bonfire.

Does Gaussian's Build up proc okay in Focused Accuracy (for other characters)?

Edited May 24, 2020 by soulofangelus

[Force Redux]

Any toggle has a low proc chance unfortunately. 

 

Focused accuracy is very end expensive. Always take tactics if you can, instead. Personally I take tactics not for the accuracy so much as for  the debuff resistance (I e., Arachnos widows, etc).

Edited May 24, 2020 by Force Redux

[Riverdusk]

Does Gaussian's proc rate in tactics not depend on number of "teammates" (which includes pets) anymore?  I seem to still see it proc pretty regularly with it in tactics myself.  Of course it doesn't do much good unless you have some attacks to use yourself.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Riverdusk

[Force Redux]

My understanding with the PPM changes were that it no longer procs per teammate.

 

With Enforcers in Thugs, however, I'm told it can proc per pet.

 

This is off my memory, as I'm at work atm 😛