Best pet set?

[TygerDarkstorm]

21 minutes ago, SableShrike said:

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.

Oh man, I'm not the only one who plays like this? Here after everything I keep reading about bodyguard mode here and "tankerminding" I have been feeling like I'm MM'ing wrong. 😅 I like to team up a lot, and yeah, most times, bodyguard is pretty useless in a team unless I decide to be the one charging in so that I'll get attacked and it'll trigger the pets to attack back. But, frankly, that's not always that feasible to do, especially as my MM's aren't incarnated out level 50's; they're babies leveling up. I have the numbad binds set up for each MM and use them to swap modes on my pets depending on the situation, as well as whether to attack my target, follow, etc.

 

If I can get away with it, I run them on aggressive; really easy for the ranged pets as they're probably not in position to pull too many extra groups, little bit harder on the melee pets, especially my beast/kin who's pets run at breakneck speed. Requires some stance dancing on the pets and hanging back slightly between mobs to make sure they're not the ones running off and pulling. I'm also not above releasing them and resummoning them in a TF if we're trying to carefully jump around mobs (think last mish of Posi 1 or 2 as you first hit the dam)--yes, it's a lot of end, but worth it not to be that person that pulled a bunch of extra mobs because pet AI is dumb and can't skirt mobs like I can.

 

But yeah, I try to play like Sable here when on a team and am glad to see I'm not the only one who notices their pets standing around too much in bodyguard mode while on teams so throws 'em on aggressive. 

[Force Redux]

Good comments @SableShrike. I would like to opine, take one attack from your Primary. The contribution they can make to overall dps has been tested to be significant, and on some sets they have side effects such as KD or -Resists that will help. For Beasts, you need at least one to build up Pack Mentality faster. I would go single target attack over AOE, however, for the reasons Sable mentions r/t aggro, as well as the fact the AOEs are usually end-heavy. Let the pets AOE. 

[SableShrike]

Yep, good call, Force!  Call Hawk is probably best for Beast as it has -Fly.  That is very important to dropping flyers down to where your pack can hit them.

Edited September 13, 2020 by SableShrike
Werd

[Force Redux]

1 hour ago, SableShrike said:

Yep, good call, Force!  Call Hawk is probably best for Beast as it has -Fly.  That is very important to dropping flyers down to where your pack can hit them.

I liked your pointing out the importance of keeping pets selectively in Aggressive mode. It is huge for dps. I only drop them to Defensive if I'm concerned about either aggroing other mobs that may be close by and I don't think I can manage them myself. I make frequent use of the improved GOTO command to make sure my pets stay where I want them to. That said, I will command them to attack a single hard target as needed, too. 

[Aeroprism]

I followed the advice given: started my battles by applying darkest night (making sure to turn it off as soon as reasonable to have it available for the next group), Tar patch is the group is larger than two or has a boss. Send pets, start pelting the debuffed target with my attacks since they do more than just damage.

 

On average, my pets ravage everything without being hit even once.

 

I tried the same mission as yesterday.  The one where you face Leon and a group of 5th at the end. The alpha did kill my three wolves but my lioness and my character endured long enough to let my debuffs fully take hold. I re-summoned my wolves and went to town. Leon fell before his henchman were done. Fudge you, Leon.

 

Well into the Montague story arc now, gained two levels, got Fearsome stare.  Life is good.

[Force Redux]

3 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

I followed the advice given: started my battles by applying darkest night (making sure to turn it off as soon as reasonable to have it available for the next group), Tar patch is the group is larger than two or has a boss. Send pets, start pelting the debuffed target with my attacks since they do more than just damage.

 

On average, my pets ravage everything without being hit even once.

 

I tried the same mission as yesterday.  The one where you face Leon and a group of 5th at the end. The alpha did kill my three wolves but my lioness and my character endured long enough to let my debuffs fully take hold. I re-summoned my wolves and went to town. Leon fell before his henchman were done. Fudge you, Leon.

 

Well into the Montague story arc now, gained two levels, got Fearsome stare.  Life is good.

This is awesome! I'm glad you are finding success with your MM! Life is good. Well, not for Leo. He got his face bitten off by your pets, lol. Nothing is sweeter than revenge!

 

That debuffing makes the difference. You'll love Fearsome Stare as an opener. Focus on -ToHit with it, not the Fear. With enough recharge you can even have it up eventually for more than once per fight (if they are longer or larger battles).

 

Also with enough recharge, your Darkest Night will be back up in a couple of seconds. I do like Recharge in there, and global recharge/hasten will help. 

 

Holler if there is anything more we can do to help. Master Mind is the Best Mind! 🙂

[Aeroprism]

Totally fun AT!

 

I also just started a Bot/Elec Villain to try another angle. Motherbrain was already taken (Phantasy Star reference) so I went for Dura Mater. (Stern Mother, in latin)

 

[Force Redux]

Nice, like the name!  I find that MM is the  only AT I can tolerate Electric Affinity, since its so busy I feel I never have a chance to really use my primary (blast as Defender, control as Controller). But MM the Primary generally takes care of itself: GoTo ---> Aggressive pets, then ElecAff away to my heart's content. 

[Aeroprism]

I just can't get over how awesome, mature and helpful the community is here!

[Force Redux]

22 minutes ago, Aeroprism said:

I just can't get over how awesome, mature and helpful the community is here!

It's been one of the chief attractors for the game for me since the Beta. Literally, the no. 1 MMORPG community in 21 years of MMOing on my part. Glad it survived the sunset 🙂

[SableShrike]

Cryptic had lightning in a bottle with CoX.  I think a lot of us older players took it up alongside Ultima, Planescape: Torment, DA:O, BG2, etc.

 

That’s not to say there aren’t truly great games these days, but the standard for excellence seemed a little higher back in 2004 when CoH launched.  We had a lot of genre-defining games come out in the 2000s.

 

I think that played a large part in the community’s loyalty to CoH, as we quickly realized, “Hey, this is something special.  This is genre-defining for superhero MMOs, or even MMOs in general.”

 

CoX is brilliant in that it is as deep as you want it to be.  You can re-bind your entire keyboard, but you don’t have to.  You can spend months on building IOs, or you can just use SOs.  The costume creator is still one of the most versatile in all of gaming history.

 

This game’s right up there with BG2 for me, and is the only MMO I put any time into even after 16 years.  They just got so many things right with CoH in a way that many newer MMOs haven’t been able to figure out.  We had an MMO with free-movement flight and super-speed back in 2004, for chrissakes.  That is nuts, if you think about it.  Many of us were still playing via phone modems.  No crappy gender-locking, enemy diversity, some of the best co-op gameplay, memorable characters, et cetera.

 

I’m nearing 40 this year, and plan on playing CoH til I can no longer work a mouse.  I take breaks now and then, but I always come back!

Edited September 14, 2020 by SableShrike

[Coyote]

On 9/11/2020 at 6:07 PM, SableShrike said:

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

 

You can also put Achilles Heel in it, freeing up a slot from the Wolves. You get to put it on only one target, but it's a stronger debuff since the Wolves are 2 levels below you... and you get to put it on the main enemy.

[Coyote]

One thing about Bodyguard mode vs Aggressive, is that for a lot of pet sets it makes sense to edit Sandolphan's numeric binds, and set them up slightly differently. For example, change the Tier 1 in Beasts so that the command is for both Tier 1 and Tier 3. This way you keep the Lionesses in Bodyguard mode to avoid getting pasted by a +4 boss, but since they're your low-damage tier, it doesn't cut too much into your damage. Similarly, Necro should pair T1/T2 so they can send them aggressively, while the Lich is kept in Bodyguard mode. Alternately, keep the Zombies in Bodyguard, so you control who the Lich/Knights attack so they focus down the bosses. Etc.

Sometimes all-Bodyguard is overkill defensively, but all Aggressive leaves you vulnerable to lucky attacks, or else limits you from being aggressive with attacks and debuffs.

[JnEricsonx]

Mine is Beast/Nature.   Can lay out regen patches, cone heal your fluffies as they run ahead of you, toss out a swarm of birds to debuff, and the toggle debuff, to say nothing of the other Nature buffs.  My tactic is to hit one enemy, chew em up, call them back and toss another heal, send them back, repeat.  Don't leave them out there, hit and move, hit and move.

[Aeroprism]

Going on with my MM/Dark questions (should I just start a new topic?), I got two questions

 

I'm 22 now, the only power available being Howling twilight, (I never team this character so...) I'm looking at power pools: Force of Will looks mighty tempting, it has a few decent attacks that can be used to manipulate foes, i really like Wall of force, and jumping is my favorite travel mode. Any thoughts?

 

Which makes me wonder: I know that all three basic attacks in the MM lines have secondary effects but I'm thinking of speccing Call Swarm out. Would that be crazy?  -7.5% defense is nothing to sneeze at but the damage is abysmal and the pack mentality chance is only moderate.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

Even if you don't team, you should take Howling Twilight because it provides a rather hefty -regen debuff and stuns the enemies around you. It's a power worth taking and using even if you're not rezzing other players.

[Force Redux]

I like Call Hawk best for one single attack.

[Psylenz0511]

4 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Even if you don't team, you should take Howling Twilight because it provides a rather hefty -regen debuff and stuns the enemies around you. It's a power worth taking and using even if you're not rezzing other players.

It should be pointed out that Howling Twilight is AUTOHIT and recharge is debuffed as well

[Dixa]

On 9/7/2020 at 9:11 AM, Xandyr said:

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

but not defense and crits at the same time.

 

i would love to see a softcaped beasts/time that never uses fortify.

[CaptainLupis]

On 9/11/2020 at 3:15 AM, Psylenz0511 said:

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.

A little late, and slightly off topic, but you don't need to go anywhere for the vault reserve. You can click where it says vault reserve at the top left of your normal salvage pop up window.

[CaptainLupis]

Edit: deleted as double post.

Edited September 18, 2020 by CaptainLupis

[Force Redux]

3 hours ago, Dixa said:

but not defense and crits at the same time.

 

i would love to see a softcaped beasts/time that never uses fortify.

That would be my Beast/Time. Fortify is merely a mule for LotG. I lost all my Mid's data so I'd have to rebuild it to paste here, but I can if you'd like. It's an effective build. Fun too.

[Force Redux]

2 hours ago, CaptainLupis said:

A little late, and slightly off topic, but you don't need to go anywhere for the vault reserve. You can click where it says vault reserve at the top left of your normal salvage pop up window.

You are a scholar and a person of breeding! I never knew this. Thanks! 😀😀

[Xandyr]

6 hours ago, Dixa said:

but not defense and crits at the same time.

 

i would love to see a softcaped beasts/time that never uses fortify.

I never use Fortify Pack. I'll check my beasts' defenses tonight.

[Force Redux]

6 hours ago, Dixa said:

but not defense and crits at the same time.

 

i would love to see a softcaped beasts/time that never uses fortify.

Okay, with my Beasts/Time the pets are about 40% Defense vs. Ranged/Melee and 55% with AOE. This is with Farsight (6-slotted with Red Fortune), Maneuvers and all three Defense IOs.

 

When the Lionesses have their buff up, it goes up another 6%. So just over soft-cap. 

 

I used to have Mace Master for the power boost, which had the pets at softcap without the Lionesses, but I found it wasn't needed at all with all the -ToHit debuff, Regen and Heals. On top of that, I had Hybrid Suport for when I wanted a bit of extra defense in case Time's Juncture debuffs wasn't enough. I ended up with Leviathan for theme over Mace. 

 

Of course, if I ever want to lose the stacking damage/crit buffs I could use Fortify Pack for an extra 5 to 12 % Defense for 60 seconds duration every 90 seconds. But I never do.

 

Honestly, my opinions of Beasts has really improved from 'pretty good' to "amazing' over the last year. Beasts have good resists, and very solid base Defense, paired with very solid ST damage. They are always where you want them to be, right in melee, close to you (if you are Time), and easily in range for heals, Farsight, Clarion, etc.

 

Anyway, that's my Beasts/Time that is soft-capped almost all of the time (with Lioness, Hybrid and -ToHit) with stacking Pack Mentality.