Best pet set?

[Seravajan]

After reaching Level 20 I noticed that the T1 beasts (wolves) are incredibly fragile. One hit from a +4 level guy and they are gone even with damage reduction up. Never had such issues with the merc set from the original game.

 

The question is which is the best pet set?

Edited September 5, 2020 by Seravajan

[Hopestar]

Beasts have a hybrid resistance + defense survivability while mercs are plain old S/L resistance. All the other sets are similar in resistance to mercs and depend on the secondary to keep them alive. Once you get your T2 which generally provide some more survivability, it'll improve more, but Wolves don't get enough Defense from Lions to matter at all as Defense is an exponential increase rather than resistance's straight line of less damage.

The other problem you're having is your T1's are -2 from your level meaning an enemy that is +4 to you, is +6 to your T1 henchmen, which frankly, even with a more resistant set will still go down in 1 to 2 hits from a +4. It's a matter of 18% vs 26% resistance between Wolves and Mercs, meaning they're gonna take pretty much the same damage.

To answer your question though, Demons, Thugs, and Bots are generally said to be the best, though every set has its own quirks like Bots' damage mostly being loaded into 2 attacks from the T3 only or that Wolves can have a million procs to increase their damage more than most other henchmen or Mercs being bad at everything, so just keep trying out sets and find which one you like most.

[Seravajan]

Best difficulty setting playing with wolves as long there is just one lion? Tried +2/x1 but if there is one purple then it is game over.

[Force Redux]

My beasts/time is, pardon the pun, a beast. Very tough. If you post a build I can try to help.

 

But overall, I also feel that Demons is the best all around set for durability and damage. Thugs is a close second. 

[kiramon]

On 9/5/2020 at 1:32 PM, Seravajan said:

Best difficulty setting playing with wolves as long there is just one lion? Tried +2/x1 but if there is one purple then it is game over.

You might want to get the Aura IOs first before upping the levels l. 
 

until then try bigger spawns and lower levels 

[Seravajan]

What is an IO? Is there a list of all the abbrviations used in this game somewhere?

 

The beasts are so incredible quishy that they get oneshotted even from heavy hitting reds. The good powers from the /nature have a such long CD that it is difficult to get them running in every fight.

 

I have the strange feeling that it will become better again at level 24.

[Nyghtmaire]

With what secondaries are you pairing your beasts?

2 minutes ago, Seravajan said:

Is there a list of all the abbrviations used in this game somewhere?

The pet unique IOs come from the pet sets, recharge intensive pet sets, and mastermind archetype sets.

 

Mastermind ATOs

 

1. Command of the Mastermind - AOE defense (15% for Superior version)

2. Mark of Supremacy - resistance and regen (15% resists for Superior version)

 

Pet Sets

 

1. Edict of the Master- +5% defense 

2. Sovereign Right- +10% resistance 

 

Recharge Intensive Pet Sets

 

1. Call to Arms - +5% defense 

2. Expedient Reinforcement - +10% resistance 

 

See here for a list of enhancements.

 

On 9/5/2020 at 1:32 PM, Seravajan said:

one purple then it is game over.

Did someone say game over?!?!

[Xandyr]

1 hour ago, Force Redux said:

My beasts/time is, pardon the pun, a beast. Very tough. If you post a build I can try to help.

 

But overall, I also feel that Demons is the best all around set for durability and damage. Thugs is a close second. 

I second Beast/Time. It's a powerhouse...damage,crits, holds,debuffs, heals, defense...you name it.

[Galaxy Brain]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:31 AM, Seravajan said:

What is an IO? Is there a list of all the abbrviations used in this game somewhere?

 

The beasts are so incredible quishy that they get oneshotted even from heavy hitting reds. The good powers from the /nature have a such long CD that it is difficult to get them running in every fight.

 

I have the strange feeling that it will become better again at level 24.

IO = Invention Origin enhancement, you'll find them in the Auction House (type /ah and it'll pop up!), or under your Recipes Tab. You'll have to craft them using Salvage, but once you make them they never expire like normal enhancements that you find at stores / drop from enemies into your enhancement tray, and usually come with cool perks.

 

Since you're below level 24, I'd reccomend maybe trying +1/x2 or x3 at most as the added levels hurt your pets extra hard until you get special IO's or just level up some more. Remember that your wolves are 2 levels lower than you! That +4 Purple guy is +6 to them!!

[Seravajan]

I know this. Sorry for the offtopic: One thing: I have recipes and salvages. But how do I craft? Because my salvage storager is full.

Currently I'm L25 now. The hero is a blast in groups. 😄 

[Force Redux]

You'll need a crafting table at a university or your base. Find the recipe you want to make and have the materials available. If you do it at a university you can also open the auction house to buy what's missing. 🙂

[Psylenz0511]

21 hours ago, Seravajan said:

I know this. Sorry for the offtopic: One thing: I have recipes and salvages. But how do I craft? Because my salvage storager is full.

Currently I'm L25 now. The hero is a blast in groups. 😄 

Don't forget your vault storage available as base improvements and also vault reserve in places like Steel and Talos. Plus, you can store things on the Auction House too.

[Psylenz0511]

I cut my mastermind teeth on a Robots/poison, my first villain, my first mastermind on Live. i knew how to work the kb, the focused fire and stacking foes in the burn patches of the Assault Bot. Robots are fairly sturdy and definitely deadly. I do however, believe that demons are stronger. I could go on about demons healing other demons and allies ( unlike protector bots), the varied attacks, cones, AoEs, but to me when the Demon Prince wades into a group with his chill aura debuff slow, wielding the Greater Ice Sword circle attack along with the living hellfire running rampant is when the demons are the deadliest.

[Force Redux]

13 hours ago, Psylenz0511 said:

... when the Demon Prince wades into a group with his chill aura debuff slow, wielding the Greater Ice Sword circle attack along with the living hellfire running rampant is when the demons are the deadliest.

Man, this right here makes me want to log in right now instead of doing RL stuff lol! 😄

[SableShrike]

Beast can be crazy tough with the right secondary and IOs.

 

Beast/Cold is my personal favorite as you can nearly cap your pets’ Defense to all positions with just the Cold shields and the two +5% Defense IOs.

 

With all of the special pet IOs your pets have:
 

+35% resistance to everything, +10% Defense to Melee and Ranged, +25% Defense to AoE, and +150% regen.  They are very, very tough then.

 

I sacrifice a bit of that survival to crank pet damage with procs, personally.  I use the following:

 

Wolves: Acc/Dam IO, Acc/Dam/End IO, Dam IO, Achilles’ Heel -Res proc, Shield Breaker Dam proc, Touch of Lady Grey Dam proc

 

Lions:  Acc/Dam IO, Acc/Dam/End IO, Dam IO, Command Of MM Rech/+AoE Defense IO, Edict of the Master +Defense IO, Call To Arms +Defense IO

 

Dire Wolf:  Mark of Sup Acc/Dam/End IO, Mark of Sup Acc/Dam IO, Mark of Sup Dam IO, Mark of Sup End/+Resist/+Regen IO, Soulbound Allegiance +BuildUp IO, Impeded Swiftness Dam proc

 

This gives my pets +10% Defense, +25% AoE, +15% Resist, and +150% regen.

 

The procs in wolves fire nearly every attack, meaning they often double or triple their damage.  The Achilles’ fires for each wolf, too, meaning a hard target will almost always have -20% resistance (which means 20% more damage for your team).  Like this, wolves are actually your most damaging pets.

 

Lions buff and carry most of the pet defense IOs.  Can’t damage proc them well, sadly.

 

Dire Wolf can proc the Slow damage IO on almost every attack, and can fire Build Up on every attack.  It can do brutal damage if enemies bunch up.  You need all that Endurance Reduction on it though, as it’s your one pet that really burns through its blue bar.

 

The above is the best DPS vs survival slotting I’ve found for Beast.  They can do some pretty sick damage provided you can get them in range.  Snow Storm, Hawk, and Ravens all help drop flyers for your pack to maul.  Dire Wolf’s ice blasts can also drop flyers.

 

P.S.  By keeping Recharge enhancements off it, Infrigidate from Cold can be turned into a reliable High damage attack with:  Acc IO, End Redux IO, Impeded Swiftness Dam proc, Shield Breaker Dam proc, and Touch of Lady Grey Dam proc

 

Cue up Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and sic your pack on em!

Edited September 11, 2020 by SableShrike

[Aeroprism]

Beast/Dark MM here, I just ragequit on a mission. Level 18, my notoriety is -1 level, team size 2, so I'm essentially fighting small groups of 4-5 blues.  It goes kinda sorta well for the most part, but this end of mission had one yellow boss and some 5-6 blue minions.  The alpha wiped my 3 wolves and my lion in about... point five seconds.  I didn't even have time to drop tar patch or darkest night.  Not to mention that the Dark heal takes 5 seconds to go off and has a suitable chance to miss.

 

I'm starting to think I chose a very, very bad combo.  Sucks.  I like those beasts so much but yes, they ARE paper-fragile.

[Force Redux]

That's an unfortunate experience @Aeroprism. Do you have a build to post? I'd like to help you.

 

Beasts start off with respectable S/L resists as well as respectable 11% Defense vs All.  They are the opposite of paper fragile, that would be Ninjas. Beasts are actually one of the tougher sets.  

 

Dark is also solid, but perhaps the slotting or your use of it might need a tweak? Again, you don't have access to Fearsome Stare, but you have Darkest Night. Unless you are getting an ambush spawned right on top of you, you should be starting off with Darkest Night to debuff mobs before they have a chance to alpha you. That will reduce their ToHit (combined with pet defense) and their damage. 

 

Twilight Grasp isn't that slow at all (2.37 cast time vs. Thermal's Warmth, which is 2.03 seconds cast time), and the heal that comes actually can raise you and pets from the dead if it goes off at the right time. It's actually a terrific heal. Base accuracy was improved from 1.0 to 1.2 with the last patch, and so it is now inherently fairly accurate, but still does require some slotting.  At least 1 Single Origin accuracy at -1 to +1 mobs. I find tIOhat a Kismat +Acc unique IO in Hover is very helpful for low level Dark users.

 

Realize, at level 18 your pets are a bit underleveled. You don't have the Dire Wolf yet, but you do have the wolves. I'd like to make some suggestions.  You will come into your own at 26 when you get Dire Wolf, but with a few slots and the final upgrade at 32, you'll really notice the difference. 12 to 26 is generally the rough spot for MMs. I encourage you to push through. 

 

Unfortunately, MMs and Stalkers are the two ATs that really benefit from their unique IOs. Stalkers perform well without it, but their Stalker IO uniques change their gameplay by 100%.  Masterminds tend to have weaker pets in tougher content until they 1) gain slotting/levels and 2) slot the six unique pet Defense/Resist IOs. Fortunately, they are not that expensive, but I consider them MANDATORY. At least the 3 Defense IOs and the +15% Resist IO, if you can only afford 4 slots (for sets that are not Demons/Thugs/Necro). 

 

Wolves can take a number of unique IOs and procs. There is another thread here that goes over it recently. Shield Breaker, Lady Gray are good candidates to help kill faster. 

 

Remember, Dark must use their debuffs to help their pets. Try putting a Tar Patch down at a corner. Then peak out, place Darkest Night on a Lt or Boss mob in the pack, then duck behind the corner and allow the mobs to come to you, get stuck in Tar Patch, then send in the pets to chow down. Don't forget to build up Pack Mentality with the Beast Mastery power of your choice (I like Call Hawk for the -ToHit, -Fly and KD). If you took Fortify Pack, you can convert stacks of Pack Mentality (built up by your attacks and the pets') to Defense stacks, if you need it. If you don't convert, they will build up extra crit % and damage, which kills things faster.

 

If you want to join me on Everlasting, I can assist you with some IO uniques to help out, or do some missions to help you get the hang of Dark. I've taken both Beast and Dark to incarnate levels, so I'm familiar with them both. They are a solid combo.

 

Lastly, if you have time, see my guide on Dark as a secondary power set. I love dark. Perhaps it will help you. It is linked in my signature, below: Gather the Shadows. 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Force Redux

[Nyghtmaire]

1 hour ago, Aeroprism said:

The alpha wiped my 3 wolves and my lion in about... point five seconds. 

While not entirely sure, this sounds like an AOE attack. If a MM is in bodyguard mode, the pets take AOE Damage directly AND an unresistable share from BG. This means that a pet’s resistance will not reduce BG damage. 
 

Edit: also, levels 18-21 are the worst levels for a MM. 

 

22- SO levels of enhancement

24- 2nd tier 2 pet

26- tier 3 pet

32- final upgrade 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Nyghtmaire

[Force Redux]

I personally almost never use BG mode. Like, Ever. 

[TheSpiritFox]

You should NOT be fighting +4s at lvl 20. Stop jacking up the level and jack up the number of enemies. Do like +0 or +1 x3 or x4 and don't go above +1 until you can handle +1x8. 

 

You genuinely cannot set yourself up to handle +4s without a solid team of buff/debuff/heals/aggro mangement/dps all covered, or being high level enough to slot out sets and turn your toon into a demigod. 

[TheSpiritFox]

2 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

Beast/Dark MM here, I just ragequit on a mission. Level 18, my notoriety is -1 level, team size 2, so I'm essentially fighting small groups of 4-5 blues.  It goes kinda sorta well for the most part, but this end of mission had one yellow boss and some 5-6 blue minions.  The alpha wiped my 3 wolves and my lion in about... point five seconds.  I didn't even have time to drop tar patch or darkest night.  Not to mention that the Dark heal takes 5 seconds to go off and has a suitable chance to miss.

 

I'm starting to think I chose a very, very bad combo.  Sucks.  I like those beasts so much but yes, they ARE paper-fragile.

You did not at all choose a bad combo you don't know how to play /dark yet. 

 

/Dark is a bit different from most other secondaries. Time, cold, thermal, nature, traps, all of those can allow you to let the pets lead because they give you the ability to seriously buff your pets survivability or heal without thinking about it. 

 

Dark requires that you target someone for your heal, it WILL miss 5% of the time no matter how much accuracy you stack. And rather than buffing, dark is primarily a debuffing set. 

 

So how do you play Dark? You put your pets in defensive follow, and you pick a boss out of the group and cast darkest knight on him, then immediately drop your tar patch if it's up, then move into melee range with your pets following and fire off your heal. Bodyguard mode means you can take the alpha better than your pets can. Even my demons/dark, I send in the pets and it's really, really easy to lose 1-3 of them and demons are the tankiest pets, but often the T1s just melt. 

 

Unless the enemies are so debuffed they can't hit shit. Darkest knight both reduces accuracy AND damage, and with the exception of AVs nothing can resist -damage that I am aware of. So immediately, you use that and it's like adding defense and resistance to your pets. 

 

Once the fight has started and your pets start to pull aggro from you, that's when you can like give them attack commands if you want and such, when everyone is debuffed, slowed, less accurate, less damaging, and you're in melee range with your pets to start just spamming your big ass aoe heal. 

 

Try that method and you'll find that suddenly you're pretty good in a fight. 

 

Also, until you have enough sets to give you decent -recharge bonuses, slot some recharge, endurance drain, and -tohit in darkest night in that order. You'll need your endurance, but more importantly darkest night has like an 8 second recharge or something base and that is really annoying as fuck. You have to pay attention to  it, drop it as soon as the fight is over so it recharges before the next group, and if you have to switch targets mid fight it really sucks to have an 8 second recharge, as you've seen you can die in that time frame. Recharge in darkest night will save your ass. 

[Psylenz0511]

1 hour ago, Nyghtmaire said:

While not entirely sure, this sounds like an AOE attack. If a MM is in bodyguard mode, the pets take AOE Damage directly AND an unresistable share from BG. This means that a pet’s resistance will not reduce BG damage. 
 

Edit: also, levels 18-21 are the worst levels for a MM. 

 

22- SO levels of enhancement

24- 2nd tier 2 pet

26- tier 3 pet

32- final upgrade 

QFT,

 

It gets massively better at level 22 (SOs/IOs) and as stated gets better each even level to level 32.

 

I am also a proud proponent of using Howling Twilight as an opening salvo on tough groups - auto-hit stun, slow and -regen - even with nobody to rez

[Aeroprism]

You people are beautiful.  So much good and interesting info there!

 

I will post my current build shortly.

 

Edit: This is my current build.  Note that all my IOs are 20, and the red/damage IOs are actually the 5 free ones you get from the P2W.

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10
https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 17 Magic Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Beast Mastery
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Call Swarm -- Acc-I(A), DefDeb-I(5), DefDeb-I(5)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(3), Acc-I(3)
Level 2: Summon Wolves -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(7), Acc-I(7)
Level 4: Call Hawk -- Dmg-I(A), ToHitDeb-I(9), Acc-I(9)
Level 6: Train Beasts -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 10: Darkest Night -- EndRdx-I(A), ToHitDeb-I(11)
Level 12: Call Ravens -- Dmg-I(A), DefDeb-I(13), Acc-I(13)
Level 14: Summon Lions -- Dmg-I(A), DefBuff-I(15), Acc-I(15)
Level 16: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Fortify Pack -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 20: [Empty] 
Level 22: [Empty] 
Level 24: [Empty] 
Level 26: [Empty] 
Level 28: [Empty] 
Level 30: [Empty] 
Level 32: [Empty] 
Level 35: [Empty] 
Level 38: [Empty] 
Level 41: [Empty] 
Level 44: [Empty] 
Level 47: [Empty] 
Level 49: [Empty] 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Supremacy 
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(17), EndMod-I(19)
Level 2: Alpha Howler Wolf 
Level 2: Howler Wolf 
Level 2: Pack Mentality 
Level 14: Lioness 
------------

Edited September 12, 2020 by Aeroprism

[Force Redux]

@Aeroprism awesome, I'll have to review the build and make suggestions later, as I'm off for a bit. But part of the ability to flourish will be the build, the other will be your playstyle/tactics. Catch you tomorrow!

[SableShrike]

Glad to see I’m not the only one who rarely uses Bodyguard.

 

If you have pets set as Defensive they sit around not attacking way too much for my liking.

 

You CAN make a build around it, but only with certain secondary sets like FF or Sonic that give you, the player, mez protection.

 

On Beast/Cold, I catch mez and I’m out of the fight unless I have a mez inspiration.  That’s not worth building around.

 

You have to learn what draws aggro if you’re not going to use Bodyguard.  Hate seems conditional on damage dealt and distance, so attacking an enemy from range that a pet is already targeting generally is safe.

 

Be careful of your AoE attack.  If you hit a large spawn any unengaged enemies will target you, not your pets.  Versus +4s this can be fatal.

 

What is “safer” to use: heals, buffs, slows, holds, et cetera.  Basically anything that doesn’t deal damage is unlikely to draw hate onto you the MM.  Damage always trumps no-damage, so your pets attacking will hold aggro if you do no damage.

 

The above is why some MMs skip personal attacks entirely.  You CAN use the attacks, but again you need to know what won’t draw attention.  Target stuff your pets are attacking and be careful using any AoE dps powers.

 

Lastly, pet commands.

 

I use the three basic ones only. Sacrilege, I know.

 

I leave Attack set as it is on “Attack Aggressive”.  This lets the pets go wild on dps and means they aren’t eating more HP damage from Bodyguard.  You need to USE this to focus them against priority targets.  I send them after the Lt. and cork it with debuffs.  I then focus the next priority or just let them mop up.

 

Heel command is fine as is.  Does what it says.

 

Follow command I modify to “Follow Defensive”.  This is your ‘Oh shit’ button to turn on Bodyguard.  The main uses for this are to save your butt from ambushes when solo.  Ambushes target you, the MM, with perfect accuracy, and can be deadly without Bodyguard on.  Non-ambush mobs will obey the normal aggro rules; ambushes do not.  The low-level Praetorian missions with all the ghoul ambushes can really suck without using this.

 

So!  90% of the time I have pets in “Aggressive” and use Attack to focus them on priority targets.  If I draw a lot of aggro or get an ambush, I flip to Follow “Defensive” until it’s taken care of.

 

PSA for the next part, but DO. NOT. STAY. IN. DEFENSIVE. when you are teaming.  If you are teaming and have pets set to “Defensive” they stand about far more than they attack.  This drastically cuts your dps you bring to the team. Again, the only real exception here is a tankermind who has mez shields and uses Provoke to always have hate.
 

Otherwise you want to figure out how to mostly leave pets on “Aggressive” when teamed.  They need to be attacking to contribute to the team.  For special cases like DFB runs, just learn to focus pets on the Archvillain Vahzilok with Attack commands; it’s easy and I never have to unsummon pets for that fight.