Mercs/Storm - Playing with the new Physics

[Fichenchips]

Here's a list of all the secondaries that are not even a little bit endurance heavy...

 

Cold

Force Field

Kinetics

Nature (Restores its own Endurance to prevent being heavy)

Poison

Time

Traps

Trick Arrow

 

I am aware that multiple Freezing Rains stack, but considering how much you have to sacrifice to get multiple freezing rains its just not worth it. Hurricane is the set defining power with its massive -35% hit and repel effect keeping the pets safe, not freezing rain. If your goal is to drop multiple freezing rain effects I'd recommend going with Cold as that set is extremely endurance friendly and benefits far more from recharge than Storm. The alternative would be just to not take Lightning Storm as that power is a huge endurance dump for no benefits to the pets and the whole point of the set is to get the most out of the pets. Otherwise you may as well be playing a Defender. I'd personally start from the ground up and set a priority list as you're trying to do so much at once.

 

1. Keep pets alive.

2. Maximize Pet damage.

3. Minimize Endurance Drain.

 

These three should be your top concerns. Hurricane and Steamy Mist are your go-to powers for keeping your pets alive. Tornado is a supplement to this, but not required. With just Hurricane and Steamy Mist, you'll have minimum issues. So you need to make sure you can maintain hurricane 100% of the time, avoiding as much CC that toggles it off, because even a brief knockdown or hold will detoggle it and get your pets killed.

 

Freezing rain is an asset to maximizing pet damage, but its second on the priority list, because dead pets do no damage. So if you have to make any sacrifices to their safety to enhance damage, it's not worth it in my opinion. By placing 4 of 6 Auras in the Tornado and 6 slotting the Tornado it really opens up possibilities for the pets and lets you still get some use out of the Tornado. The mercenaries in my opinion are easy to slot. You'll want the Overwhelming Force KB to KD, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker Procs, Achilles Heel and then you have two slots to increase their damage as you see fit. Accuracy isn't as important because Freezing Rain lowers defense an absurd amount and tactics, but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

Spec Ops are the worst pets of the bunch. I usually put 1-2 of the remaining Auras in them, assuming I go with all 6. as well as at least 1 Lady Grey or Shield Breaker. They don't attack near as fast as the Soldiers and use CC. They have the worst AI of the bunch. Use them for set bonuses you want and try to get their damage as high as you can. Lots of room to work with on these guys.

 

The Commando needs a KB to KD. 4 of his powers are AoE knockbacks that don't synergize with Freezing rain at all. He also needs lots of endurance reduction and you'll want to cap his damage. He doesn't attack fast enough to justify damage procs in my opinion since his hits are "big and slow" so you can also use him for set bonuses as long as you have a Sudden Acceleration KB to KD and endurance reduction.

 

Snow Storm is an iffy power. Some swear by it but I find myself never using it ever. It's too endurance heavy and doesn't contribute enough. To me, it doesn't accomplish any of the goals I need and in practice I never know when to use it other than an obvious AV fight.

 

I personally still don't see the need to Provoke after your explanation. Generally I'm standing ontop of my pets when I play, and Ill engage with a Freezing Rain, allowing the pets to do there thing as I micro manage them to stay in the hurricane. If the map allows, I'll Gust them into a corner and then drop a freezing rain. The pets have far higher defense and resistance than I do and the medic can out heal the damage they take, which is very minimal. Aside from the Alpha, I don't want to take a hit. The only pets I would consider provoke for are Ninjas, but definitely not with Storm.

 

I'd probably go with Mace as a mastery power, for Web envelop to keep them in the freezing rain and Scorpion Shield for my own survival. I'm also a huge fan of power boost.

 

I'd make a build for you, but I'm not really interested in the Storm playstyle. Hurricane's repel is just really really annoying. When it works, its amazing, but more times than not it spreads things out and then you have monsters everywhere, at least until you can Web Envelop but even immobilized targets can be repelled. I find Cold far more fun since its more about the Sleet than the Hurricane and I pair that with my mercs, Nature also works really really well due to the AoE Hold that's absolutely amazing and the 50% damage boost to everyone. I also never take into consideration Incarnates when making a build. Its more difficult to make a bad build than a good build when you're at the Incarnate level. The game is so easy for a MM at that point, I like to consider the whole leveling experience and once you get to the Incarnate power the games basically over in terms of difficulty.

[Tamorand]

 

I just have to point out that you may have a misconception about the Aura IOs. As globals (As opposed to procs), they are always on, whether the power is activated or not. Simply by having them slotted in a power, you have the benefits, whether you have summoned those pets or not. And to be clear, the auras emanate from you, not the summon.

That's good info, I did not know that about the pet aura's.  As long as I have a spot for them they will be on all the time.  Noted.

 

 

Fifth, The build seems way too focused on recharge, when there isn't really much that needs recharge. Freezing Rain is on a low enough cooldown with just 3 recharge IOs. Leaving Tornado/Lightning Storm really the only two powers that benefit from lower cooldown, but because of how endurance heavy the build is you can't afford to use them off cooldown, especially Lightning Storm. Personally, I wouldn't even use Hasten in this build because the Endurance crash is devastating if it causes you to lose a Hurricane.

 

I also have to point out that there's a misconception here: You don't just want Perma Freezing Rain. You want DOUBLE or TRIPLE Freezing Rain. It's a pseudo-pet (As are all ground targeted AoE powers) and as such it does stack with itself, even though the power is flagged as "Effect does not stack from same caster", because each Freezing Rain instance is technically being cast by a different pseudo-pet.

 

So there is no "too much" recharge for Freezing Rain. At the recharge cap the Duration:Recharge ratio is 2.5:1, and if you can reasonably get this, you very much want it.

 

I originally built with that in mind, but have since started to change my tune regarding recharge with this particular MM set.  I want to be able to have FR going all the time, but until the incarnate level, I really have to give up too much to get it any higher.

 

Thank you for the advice.

 

 

[Tamorand]

Here's a list of all the secondaries that are not even a little bit endurance heavy...

 

Cold

Force Field

Kinetics

Nature (Restores its own Endurance to prevent being heavy)

Poison

Time

Traps

Trick Arrow

 

I am aware that multiple Freezing Rains stack, but considering how much you have to sacrifice to get multiple freezing rains its just not worth it. Hurricane is the set defining power with its massive -35% hit and repel effect keeping the pets safe, not freezing rain. If your goal is to drop multiple freezing rain effects I'd recommend going with Cold as that set is extremely endurance friendly and benefits far more from recharge than Storm. The alternative would be just to not take Lightning Storm as that power is a huge endurance dump for no benefits to the pets and the whole point of the set is to get the most out of the pets. Otherwise you may as well be playing a Defender. I'd personally start from the ground up and set a priority list as you're trying to do so much at once.

 

1. Keep pets alive.

2. Maximize Pet damage.

3. Minimize Endurance Drain.

 

These three should be your top concerns. Hurricane and Steamy Mist are your go-to powers for keeping your pets alive. Tornado is a supplement to this, but not required. With just Hurricane and Steamy Mist, you'll have minimum issues. So you need to make sure you can maintain hurricane 100% of the time, avoiding as much CC that toggles it off, because even a brief knockdown or hold will detoggle it and get your pets killed.

 

Freezing rain is an asset to maximizing pet damage, but its second on the priority list, because dead pets do no damage. So if you have to make any sacrifices to their safety to enhance damage, it's not worth it in my opinion. By placing 4 of 6 Auras in the Tornado and 6 slotting the Tornado it really opens up possibilities for the pets and lets you still get some use out of the Tornado. The mercenaries in my opinion are easy to slot. You'll want the Overwhelming Force KB to KD, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker Procs, Achilles Heel and then you have two slots to increase their damage as you see fit. Accuracy isn't as important because Freezing Rain lowers defense an absurd amount and tactics, but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

Spec Ops are the worst pets of the bunch. I usually put 1-2 of the remaining Auras in them, assuming I go with all 6. as well as at least 1 Lady Grey or Shield Breaker. They don't attack near as fast as the Soldiers and use CC. They have the worst AI of the bunch. Use them for set bonuses you want and try to get their damage as high as you can. Lots of room to work with on these guys.

 

The Commando needs a KB to KD. 4 of his powers are AoE knockbacks that don't synergize with Freezing rain at all. He also needs lots of endurance reduction and you'll want to cap his damage. He doesn't attack fast enough to justify damage procs in my opinion since his hits are "big and slow" so you can also use him for set bonuses as long as you have a Sudden Acceleration KB to KD and endurance reduction.

 

Snow Storm is an iffy power. Some swear by it but I find myself never using it ever. It's too endurance heavy and doesn't contribute enough. To me, it doesn't accomplish any of the goals I need and in practice I never know when to use it other than an obvious AV fight.

 

I personally still don't see the need to Provoke after your explanation. Generally I'm standing ontop of my pets when I play, and Ill engage with a Freezing Rain, allowing the pets to do there thing as I micro manage them to stay in the hurricane. If the map allows, I'll Gust them into a corner and then drop a freezing rain. The pets have far higher defense and resistance than I do and the medic can out heal the damage they take, which is very minimal. Aside from the Alpha, I don't want to take a hit. The only pets I would consider provoke for are Ninjas, but definitely not with Storm.

 

I'd probably go with Mace as a mastery power, for Web envelop to keep them in the freezing rain and Scorpion Shield for my own survival. I'm also a huge fan of power boost.

 

I'd make a build for you, but I'm not really interested in the Storm playstyle. Hurricane's repel is just really really annoying. When it works, its amazing, but more times than not it spreads things out and then you have monsters everywhere, at least until you can Web Envelop but even immobilized targets can be repelled. I find Cold far more fun since its more about the Sleet than the Hurricane and I pair that with my mercs, Nature also works really really well due to the AoE Hold that's absolutely amazing and the 50% damage boost to everyone. I also never take into consideration Incarnates when making a build. Its more difficult to make a bad build than a good build when you're at the Incarnate level. The game is so easy for a MM at that point, I like to consider the whole leveling experience and once you get to the Incarnate power the games basically over in terms of difficulty.

 

Thank you again Fichenchips.

I am digesting all of the advice given here and have started a new build from scratch.  I'll take what I've learned so far and see how it works out.  I'll post something in the AM.

 

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate all of your help and advice.

[Dixa]

Here's a list of all the secondaries that are not even a little bit endurance heavy...

 

Cold

Force Field

Kinetics

Nature (Restores its own Endurance to prevent being heavy)

Poison

Time

Traps

Trick Arrow

 

I am aware that multiple Freezing Rains stack, but considering how much you have to sacrifice to get multiple freezing rains its just not worth it. Hurricane is the set defining power with its massive -35% hit and repel effect keeping the pets safe, not freezing rain. If your goal is to drop multiple freezing rain effects I'd recommend going with Cold as that set is extremely endurance friendly and benefits far more from recharge than Storm. The alternative would be just to not take Lightning Storm as that power is a huge endurance dump for no benefits to the pets and the whole point of the set is to get the most out of the pets. Otherwise you may as well be playing a Defender. I'd personally start from the ground up and set a priority list as you're trying to do so much at once.

 

1. Keep pets alive.

2. Maximize Pet damage.

3. Minimize Endurance Drain.

 

These three should be your top concerns. Hurricane and Steamy Mist are your go-to powers for keeping your pets alive. Tornado is a supplement to this, but not required. With just Hurricane and Steamy Mist, you'll have minimum issues. So you need to make sure you can maintain hurricane 100% of the time, avoiding as much CC that toggles it off, because even a brief knockdown or hold will detoggle it and get your pets killed.

 

Freezing rain is an asset to maximizing pet damage, but its second on the priority list, because dead pets do no damage. So if you have to make any sacrifices to their safety to enhance damage, it's not worth it in my opinion. By placing 4 of 6 Auras in the Tornado and 6 slotting the Tornado it really opens up possibilities for the pets and lets you still get some use out of the Tornado. The mercenaries in my opinion are easy to slot. You'll want the Overwhelming Force KB to KD, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker Procs, Achilles Heel and then you have two slots to increase their damage as you see fit. Accuracy isn't as important because Freezing Rain lowers defense an absurd amount and tactics, but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

Spec Ops are the worst pets of the bunch. I usually put 1-2 of the remaining Auras in them, assuming I go with all 6. as well as at least 1 Lady Grey or Shield Breaker. They don't attack near as fast as the Soldiers and use CC. They have the worst AI of the bunch. Use them for set bonuses you want and try to get their damage as high as you can. Lots of room to work with on these guys.

 

The Commando needs a KB to KD. 4 of his powers are AoE knockbacks that don't synergize with Freezing rain at all. He also needs lots of endurance reduction and you'll want to cap his damage. He doesn't attack fast enough to justify damage procs in my opinion since his hits are "big and slow" so you can also use him for set bonuses as long as you have a Sudden Acceleration KB to KD and endurance reduction.

 

Snow Storm is an iffy power. Some swear by it but I find myself never using it ever. It's too endurance heavy and doesn't contribute enough. To me, it doesn't accomplish any of the goals I need and in practice I never know when to use it other than an obvious AV fight.

 

I personally still don't see the need to Provoke after your explanation. Generally I'm standing ontop of my pets when I play, and Ill engage with a Freezing Rain, allowing the pets to do there thing as I micro manage them to stay in the hurricane. If the map allows, I'll Gust them into a corner and then drop a freezing rain. The pets have far higher defense and resistance than I do and the medic can out heal the damage they take, which is very minimal. Aside from the Alpha, I don't want to take a hit. The only pets I would consider provoke for are Ninjas, but definitely not with Storm.

 

I'd probably go with Mace as a mastery power, for Web envelop to keep them in the freezing rain and Scorpion Shield for my own survival. I'm also a huge fan of power boost.

 

I'd make a build for you, but I'm not really interested in the Storm playstyle. Hurricane's repel is just really really annoying. When it works, its amazing, but more times than not it spreads things out and then you have monsters everywhere, at least until you can Web Envelop but even immobilized targets can be repelled. I find Cold far more fun since its more about the Sleet than the Hurricane and I pair that with my mercs, Nature also works really really well due to the AoE Hold that's absolutely amazing and the 50% damage boost to everyone. I also never take into consideration Incarnates when making a build. Its more difficult to make a bad build than a good build when you're at the Incarnate level. The game is so easy for a MM at that point, I like to consider the whole leveling experience and once you get to the Incarnate power the games basically over in terms of difficulty.

 

really wish you would stop dispensing mm advice when you don't actually have one at 50. you dispense a lot of bad information based on sub 50 anecdotes of sets you have no experience with.

 

the end return on lifegiving spores barely covers it's toggle cost. it returns 0.01 end.

 

time is one of the most end hungry sets we have even with perma chrono shift.

 

kinetics has end issues before transference since you WILL be tranfusioning a lot for survival. the only set you listed that has no end issues is force field because you quite literally have nothing to do.

 

the fact you advocate for acrobatics on an mm already speaks volumes to your inexperience in either efficient building or min/max building.

[Fichenchips]

Funny, I am under the same impression you have zero knowledge about MM and you've never actually played one, just power leveled them, but feel free to insult me if it makes you feel better. I just plan on ignoring your contributions from this point further.

[Dixa]

Funny, I am under the same impression you have zero knowledge about MM and you've never actually played one, just power leveled them, but feel free to insult me if it makes you feel better. I just plan on ignoring your contributions from this point further.

 

you were the same guy who took zero advice from any vet on reddit, treated us like crap and constantly delete your posts because you didn't like the answers we gave you.

 

I went by JupiterMoon on the game forums. Here is my i9 thugs/traps build guide.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20120904225238/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=120004

 

if you aren't using Justin to test your theories then they are nothing but that - theories.

[Fichenchips]

I delete my posts because I've deleted my posts for years, kind of weird to have a reddit account with over 6,000 karma that's been around for years with only 10 posts in the history at a time. What you said/say is bad advice, hence why I did not take it. I am also the same redditor that has the highest rated MM post on that entire subreddit's history that 97% of the community upvoted. Like I said, if insulting me makes you feel better, great, keep it up, and I hope your day gets better where you don't feel the need to insult anyone who disagrees with you, but like any normal person I am just going to disregard your posts as I am confident you have little knowledge of this game or a serious ego where you cannot accept a world where you are wrong. Best of luck with the whole, "Being right" thing.

[Dixa]

I delete my posts because I've deleted my posts for years, kind of weird to have a reddit account with over 6,000 karma that's been around for years with only 10 posts in the history at a time. What you said/say is bad advice, hence why I did not take it. I am also the same redditor that has the highest rated MM post on that entire subreddit's history that 97% of the community upvoted. Like I said, if insulting me makes you feel better, great, keep it up, and I hope your day gets better where you don't feel the need to insult anyone who disagrees with you, but like any normal person I am just going to disregard your posts as I am confident you have little knowledge of this game or a serious ego where you cannot accept a world where you are wrong. Best of luck with the whole, "Being right" thing.

 

what mm post would that be? the one where you asked about mercs/trick arrow viability and crapped on everyone who gave you positive advice because they did not directly answer your question in the format you wanted? oh right you deleted that one.

 

but that's ok, insult my knowledge. I do feel bad for those who take yours. acrobatics. lol.

[GM Tempest]

There is a difference between expressing your opinions and being rude. Behave.

[kelly Rocket]

Here's a list of all the secondaries that are not even a little bit endurance heavy...

 

Cold

Force Field

Kinetics

Nature (Restores its own Endurance to prevent being heavy)

Poison

Time

Traps

Trick Arrow

 

I am aware that multiple Freezing Rains stack, but considering how much you have to sacrifice to get multiple freezing rains its just not worth it. Hurricane is the set defining power with its massive -35% hit and repel effect keeping the pets safe, not freezing rain. If your goal is to drop multiple freezing rain effects I'd recommend going with Cold as that set is extremely endurance friendly and benefits far more from recharge than Storm. The alternative would be just to not take Lightning Storm as that power is a huge endurance dump for no benefits to the pets and the whole point of the set is to get the most out of the pets. Otherwise you may as well be playing a Defender. I'd personally start from the ground up and set a priority list as you're trying to do so much at once.

 

1. Keep pets alive.

2. Maximize Pet damage.

3. Minimize Endurance Drain.

 

These three should be your top concerns. Hurricane and Steamy Mist are your go-to powers for keeping your pets alive. Tornado is a supplement to this, but not required. With just Hurricane and Steamy Mist, you'll have minimum issues. So you need to make sure you can maintain hurricane 100% of the time, avoiding as much CC that toggles it off, because even a brief knockdown or hold will detoggle it and get your pets killed.

 

Freezing rain is an asset to maximizing pet damage, but its second on the priority list, because dead pets do no damage. So if you have to make any sacrifices to their safety to enhance damage, it's not worth it in my opinion. By placing 4 of 6 Auras in the Tornado and 6 slotting the Tornado it really opens up possibilities for the pets and lets you still get some use out of the Tornado. The mercenaries in my opinion are easy to slot. You'll want the Overwhelming Force KB to KD, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker Procs, Achilles Heel and then you have two slots to increase their damage as you see fit. Accuracy isn't as important because Freezing Rain lowers defense an absurd amount and tactics, but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

Spec Ops are the worst pets of the bunch. I usually put 1-2 of the remaining Auras in them, assuming I go with all 6. as well as at least 1 Lady Grey or Shield Breaker. They don't attack near as fast as the Soldiers and use CC. They have the worst AI of the bunch. Use them for set bonuses you want and try to get their damage as high as you can. Lots of room to work with on these guys.

 

The Commando needs a KB to KD. 4 of his powers are AoE knockbacks that don't synergize with Freezing rain at all. He also needs lots of endurance reduction and you'll want to cap his damage. He doesn't attack fast enough to justify damage procs in my opinion since his hits are "big and slow" so you can also use him for set bonuses as long as you have a Sudden Acceleration KB to KD and endurance reduction.

 

Snow Storm is an iffy power. Some swear by it but I find myself never using it ever. It's too endurance heavy and doesn't contribute enough. To me, it doesn't accomplish any of the goals I need and in practice I never know when to use it other than an obvious AV fight.

 

I personally still don't see the need to Provoke after your explanation. Generally I'm standing ontop of my pets when I play, and Ill engage with a Freezing Rain, allowing the pets to do there thing as I micro manage them to stay in the hurricane. If the map allows, I'll Gust them into a corner and then drop a freezing rain. The pets have far higher defense and resistance than I do and the medic can out heal the damage they take, which is very minimal. Aside from the Alpha, I don't want to take a hit. The only pets I would consider provoke for are Ninjas, but definitely not with Storm.

 

I'd probably go with Mace as a mastery power, for Web envelop to keep them in the freezing rain and Scorpion Shield for my own survival. I'm also a huge fan of power boost.

 

I'd make a build for you, but I'm not really interested in the Storm playstyle. Hurricane's repel is just really really annoying. When it works, its amazing, but more times than not it spreads things out and then you have monsters everywhere, at least until you can Web Envelop but even immobilized targets can be repelled. I find Cold far more fun since its more about the Sleet than the Hurricane and I pair that with my mercs, Nature also works really really well due to the AoE Hold that's absolutely amazing and the 50% damage boost to everyone. I also never take into consideration Incarnates when making a build. Its more difficult to make a bad build than a good build when you're at the Incarnate level. The game is so easy for a MM at that point, I like to consider the whole leveling experience and once you get to the Incarnate power the games basically over in terms of difficulty.

 

Sorry, just can't agree. Almost every other secondary aside from Empathy and Pain are better at keeping pets alive than Storm. If I take Storm it's literally for Freezing Rain. Freezing Rain is THE set-defining power in Storm for me.

 

I'm currently in the process of leveling up a Mercs/Storm, and it's pretty much purely because Storm can make Mercs' wretchedly bad damage be less wretchedly bad, and that's all Freezing Rain's doing. So getting double FR is literally my #1 goal when I get around to doing a proper build for it.

 

If I wanted survivability, I already have a Mercs/Time who basically can't be killed.

 

Or I'd have gone Mercs/Cold, and eventually gotten both better mitigation *and* better damage boost, but the key term there is sadly "eventually", as Sleet comes rather late when Cold is a secondary.

 

If I were going to focus into survivability I'd start with pets that have good damage, so the -res from FR wasn't as critical. Definitely not Mercs.

[Fichenchips]

If that's truly the case, then why take Hurricane at all? It only makes Freezing rain more difficult to manage with the mandatory repel effect, and it only cost an arm and a leg to enhance to make it work with freezing rain -at all-. I think you are vastly underestimating an ability that has -35% hit chance and basically negates all damage from melee monsters against your pets. There is absolutely no reason not to go cold, even the thematic are nigh identical, unless you don't plan on leveling all the way to 35. If you really want to see how effective Hurricane truly is, then turn it off in a dungeon. You'll notice your mercs go from almost never dying to all dying immediately.

[kelly Rocket]

If that's truly the case, then why take Hurricane at all? It only makes Freezing rain more difficult to manage with the mandatory repel effect, and it only cost an arm and a leg to enhance to make it work with freezing rain -at all-. I think you are vastly underestimating an ability that has -35% hit chance and basically negates all damage from melee monsters against your pets. There is absolutely no reason not to go cold, even the thematic are nigh identical, unless you don't plan on leveling all the way to 35. If you really want to see how effective Hurricane truly is, then turn it off in a dungeon. You'll notice your mercs go from almost never dying to all dying immediately.

 

The reason for not going Cold is that I don't want to suffer with crappy Merc kill speed all the way until level 35. I don't generally take any of the fast routes to level 50, getting to level 35 could take me several days of playtime.

[Tamorand]

By placing 4 of 6 Auras in the Tornado and 6 slotting the Tornado it really opens up possibilities for the pets and lets you still get some use out of the Tornado. The mercenaries in my opinion are easy to slot. You'll want the Overwhelming Force KB to KD, Lady Grey and Shield Breaker Procs, Achilles Heel and then you have two slots to increase their damage as you see fit. Accuracy isn't as important because Freezing Rain lowers defense an absurd amount and tactics, but you do want to get as much as you can.

 

Shield Breaker Proc only works in Tornado - sadly it doesn't fit into any of the soldiers.

Do you have a suggestion to replace Shield Breaker?

 

What are the 6 Auras you suggest?

So far I've found:

Expedient Reinforcement: Resist bonus Aura for Pets

Call to Arms: Defense Bonus Aura for Pets

Command of the Mastermind: Recharge/Pet +AOE Defense Aura

Mark of Supremacy: Endurance/Pet +Resist +Regen

 

Are you talking about slotting the Superior versions of Mark of Supremacy and Command of the Mastermind?

Otherwise I can't seem to find another Aura.

Perhaps you mean the 5% defense bonus from Edict of the Master and the 10% resist bonus from Sovereign Right?  I'm not sure if pets get the benefit of these last 2.

 

At the moment I'm looking at slotting into Soldiers

Overwhelming Force KB>KD

Achilles Heel, Chance for Res Debuff

Touch of Lady Grey: chance for Negative Damage

+3 more Overwhelming Force IO's for some sweet bonus action.

This puts them a point or two just below the damage cap while still utilizing the 3 procs.

 

 

I'd probably go with Mace as a mastery power, for Web envelop to keep them in the freezing rain and Scorpion Shield for my own survival. I'm also a huge fan of power boost.

 

What would you use Power Boost to boost specifically?

 

 

[Dixa]

Frankenslotting both mm ato sets in your pets can get you 30% global recharge and cap them for acc, dmg and end reduction. Overwhelming force kB to kd gets the most use in the pets with the most attacks as does sovereign rights chance for build up so slot into the tier 1. You would then slot call to arms and edict of the master probably in tornado. You don’t need the sovereign right and expedient reinforcement auras.

[Fichenchips]

Commanding Presence (Resist (taunt placate), Edict of the Master (+defense), Sovereign Right (+Res All), Call to Arms (defense), Expedient Reinforcement (Res), Command of the Mastermind (Def), Mark of Supremacy (Res all + Regen)

 

The shield breaker proc definitely works in both the Soldiers and the Spec ops.

[Tamorand]

Commanding Presence (Resist (taunt placate), Edict of the Master (+defense), Sovereign Right (+Res All), Call to Arms (defense), Expedient Reinforcement (Res), Command of the Mastermind (Def), Mark of Supremacy (Res all + Regen)

 

The shield breaker proc definitely works in both the Soldiers and the Spec ops.

 

So for some reason MID's(PINES) Doesn't allow for Shieldbreaker on any of the soldier/spec ops/commando pets.

But you're correct they do fit in game.  Just not in MID's for some reason.

 

This is within MID's and you can see it's missing the Accurate Debuff icon.

 

But in game you can clearly see I'm using it in soldiers

 

 

My apologies for doubting you.  :-)

 

 

 

[Tamorand]

For your dissecting pleasure.  Here is an updated version of the build with changes that reflect our goals and utilized as much of the advice that was not too conflicting.

 

DISCLAIMER:  The first thing that you hard cores are going to do is dismiss Gale and what I did with it.

Because it is so "against" meta or whatever the heck you want to call it, I feel like I have to Pre-Defend it.

 

 

The abomination you are looking at is

Frozen Blast: D/E/A/Rch

Annihilation: D/E/A/Rch

x2 Range

Force Feedback: chance for +Recharge

 

I had an incredible discussion with a long time, and respected builder, on these and the previous forums.

 

I will paraphrase our discussion as I don't know if he wants his name attached to said abomination.

 

Gale

 

If you have 6 slots to spend on Gale, you're going to want to make 2 of those slots be a Force Feedback proc for +Recharge and the Sudden Acceleration KB>KD IO.  That leaves you 4 slots that can be devoted to other purposes.

 

Slotting for additional Knockback is relatively pointless if you're using the KB>KD IO from Sudden Acceleration.

Slotting Gale for Damage is a waste.  You use Gale for CONTROL and to buy yourself time to do other things.

 

So if you've got 4 slots and don't need to enhance either Damage or Knockback, what would be important to enhance in Gale?

Accuracy

Endurance Reduction

Recharge Reduction

RANGE

 

Unfortunately, you're dealing with Target AoE Sets and Knockbacks Sets for slotting Gale with and none of the HOs that you might want to slot have the particular mix of enhancement values we'd be looking for here.

 

Ideally speaking then, you could (franken)slot:

1 Level 50 Frozen Blast Acc/Dam/End/Rech IO

1 Level 50 Overwhelming Force Acc/Dam/End/Rech IO

2 Level 50 Common Range IOs

1 Level 21 Force Feedback +Recharge IO

1 Level 21 Sudden Acceleration KB>KD IO

 

This slotting would give you KnockDOWN practically "on demand" against whatever is in front of you within about 70-75 ft (which is nearly "normal" ranged attack distance) in a WIDE cone in front of you without needing to use HERDICANE to "neutralize" stuff for you.  Note that this strategy may require multiple applications of Gale to bowl over Cimerorans who have a fair amount of KB protection, so don't expect this to be a perfect solution versus everything in the game.  But it will significantly advantage your Mercs by giving you a HUGE zone of denial in front of you that can prevent counterattacks reasonably reliably ... and Gale can knock over up to 16 targets, which would be really useful.  This then lets you use Gale extremely offensively ... pretty much as fast as it cools down (and badguys get back up on their feet).  Use Gale to "juggle" badguys without needing to push them into corners and hold them with HERDICANE in order to prevent them from attacking you (and your Mercs).

 

Use Gale to open on piles of badguys as your alpha strike.  Pick the one who is FARTHEST away from you in the pile you want to take on, while out of range of him ... cue Gale ... and then charge into range.  You will automagically be rooted into place when you enter Gale range, at which point everything between you and your badguy will be hit by Gale and presumably be KnockDOWNed.  Unleash the Kraken Mercs on the helpless baddies and hold your position where you cast Gale.  When your Targets "get up" ... hit them with Gale again.  You'll learn to know "when" to cast Gale to keep "juggling" them off their feet while your Mercs lay down fire into them.  And every time you cast Gale, you will likely be able to proc the Force Feedback +Recharge IO, meaning you want to keep casting Gale as much as possible.

 

Season to taste with other Storm attacks as the situation merits and your comedy appreciation permits.

Think Ice Patch in Ice Melee is awesome?  Try doing that to an entire dogpile of baddies "on demand" over a HUGE (Cone) area as a way to "ghetto hold" the lot of them while your Mercs are free to do what they do best ... shed brass.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

All that being said, In practice Gale slotted as above works remarkably well... But the SOUND is annoying after about the 30th Awoooooooosshhh.

There is a way to disable the sound or simply turn down the SFX, and I want you all to know I did spend about an hour and a half trying to give you a quick tutorial on how to disable it if you so desired.  But I failed, as I found the right sound but couldn't get it to disable.

 

 

If anyone wants to see a small gif or vid of this in action, let me know and I'll make one.

 

But if you don't like to use Gale, just don't :P

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Next Post has the Builds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tamorand]

So during testing I found that the use of Lightning Storm was unnecessary in many fights until you get into the harder 3x8 + content.  Adding it to the rotation just drained END and didn't really speed up clearing baddies in the lower content, but was helpful in the harder.

 

I am still running out of END - not super fast, but I need to measure my casts to allow my natural +Recovery to do it's job.

 

I received some help on the forums from @Kelly Rocket and @ArchmageMC who put together a build based on the power selections I made.  I'll post his after.

 

Here is my build - Remember that missing slots are for Sudden Acceleration

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Mastermind

Primary Power Set: Mercenaries

Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning

Power Pool: Sorcery

Power Pool: Medicine

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Soldiers -- OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg(A), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End(3), OvrFrc-Dmg/End/Rech(3), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(5), AchHee-ResDeb%(5), TchofLadG-%Dam(7)

Level 1: Gale -- FrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Range-I(9), Range-I(9), FrcFdb-Rechg%(11), Empty(11)

Level 2: O2 Boost -- Heal-I(A)

Level 4: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(A)

Level 6: Spirit Ward -- Mrc-Heal(A), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(17)

Level 8: Equip Mercenary -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 10: Steamy Mist -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(17), LucoftheG-Def(19), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(19), StdPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(21), StdPrt-ResKB(21)

Level 12: Spec Ops -- CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), CmmoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(23), CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), CmmoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), TchofLadG-%Dam(27)

Level 14: Aid Other -- DctWnd-Heal(A), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx(27), DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(29), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(29)

Level 16: Freezing Rain -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), FrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(31), PstBls-Dam%(31), AchHee-ResDeb%(33), ShlBrk-%Dam(33)

Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(34)

Level 20: Hurricane -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/Rchg(34), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(36), Empty(36)

Level 22: Rune of Protection -- ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36), ImpArm-ResDam(37), ImpArm-ResPsi(37)

Level 24: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A)

Level 26: Commando -- MarofSpr-Dmg(A), MarofSpr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), MarofSpr-Acc/Dmg(39), MarofSpr-Acc/EndRdx(39), MarofSpr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Empty(40)

Level 28: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(37)

Level 30: Tactics -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(40), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(42)

Level 32: Tactical Upgrade -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 35: Tornado -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(42), CmmoftheM-Rchg/PetAoEDef(43), MarofSpr-EndRdx/+Resist/+Regen(43), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(43), Empty(45)

Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(46), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Empty(50)

Level 41: Web Envelope -- GrvAnc-Immob(A), GrvAnc-Acc/Rchg(46), GrvAnc-Acc/Immob/Rchg(48), GrvAnc-Immob/EndRdx(48), GrvAnc-Hold%(48)

Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(50), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50)

Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 49: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)

Level 1: Supremacy

Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx-I(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)

Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(13)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(13), PrfShf-End%(15), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(15)

------------

 

 

 

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[Tamorand]

=====================================================================================================================

 

At his request - My build with @ArchmageMC's help with slotting.

 

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Mastermind

Primary Power Set: Mercenaries

Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning

Power Pool: Sorcery

Power Pool: Medicine

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Soldiers -- SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg(A), SvrRgh-Acc(3), SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SvrRgh-Dmg/EndRdx(5), SvrRgh-Acc/EndRdx(5), AchHee-ResDeb%(7)

Level 1: Gale -- Ann-ResDeb%(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Range-I(9), Range-I(9), FrcFdb-Rechg%(11)

Level 2: O2 Boost -- Heal-I(A)

Level 4: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A)

Level 6: Spirit Ward -- Mrc-Heal(A), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(15)

Level 8: Equip Mercenary -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 10: Steamy Mist -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(17), Rct-ResDam%(17), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(19), UnbGrd-ResDam(19), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(21)

Level 12: Spec Ops -- CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), CmmoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(21), CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), CmmoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), CmmoftheM-Rchg/PetAoEDef(25)

Level 14: Aid Other -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Absorb%(27), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(27), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(29), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(29), Prv-Heal/Rchg(31)

Level 16: Freezing Rain -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), FrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(31), PstBls-Dam%(33), AchHee-ResDeb%(33), ShlBrk-%Dam(33)

Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)

Level 20: Hurricane -- DmpSpr-ToHitDeb(A), DmpSpr-ToHitDeb/Rchg(34), DmpSpr-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34), DmpSpr-Rchg/EndRdx(36), DmpSpr-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(36)

Level 22: Rune of Protection -- UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(36), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(37), UnbGrd-Max HP%(37)

Level 24: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A)

Level 26: Commando -- MarofSpr-Dmg(A), MarofSpr-Dmg/EndRdx(37), MarofSpr-Acc/Dmg(39), MarofSpr-Acc/EndRdx(39), MarofSpr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), MarofSpr-EndRdx/+Resist/+Regen(40)

Level 28: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(40)

Level 30: Tactics -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(40), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(42), GssSynFr--Build%(42), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(50)

Level 32: Tactical Upgrade -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 35: Tornado -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(43), SvrRgh-PetResDam(43), EdcoftheM-PetDef(43), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(45)

Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(46), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)

Level 41: Web Envelope -- GrvAnc-Immob(A), GrvAnc-Acc/Rchg(46), GrvAnc-Acc/Immob/Rchg(48), GrvAnc-Immob/EndRdx(48), GrvAnc-Hold%(48)

Level 44: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)

Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 49: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Run-I(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)

Level 1: Supremacy

Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx-I(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)

Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(11), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(15)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(13), PrfShf-End%(13)

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

Level 0: High Pain Threshold

Level 0: Born In Battle

Level 0: Marshal

Level 0: Invader

------------

 

 

 

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[SmalltalkJava]

thank you for posting all of this build information and the conversations.  It has really proven useful for me gaining knowledge about the game.

[Tamorand]

thank you for posting all of this build information and the conversations.  It has really proven useful for me gaining knowledge about the game.

 

Very happy to have helped you.  I learned a lot as well.  Mostly that I have a lot to learn.

 

GLHF

 

Tamorand