Henchmen buffs - Enchant Undead, Equip...

[malleable1]

I find these difficult to apply during combat after resummoning.  I know there is talk about making them receive the buff on casting, and many of you guys argue for or against this.

The power seems to be listed as an AoE 30' radius, but I know that I've been targeting my henchman to cast it.  Can you cast this in an area and get multiple henchmen at once?

Any idea on how much these abilities add to damage?  I'm weighing out the value of these abilities compared to stuff like Leadership (in a party of x4 Leaderships).  Four Assault Leadership buffs vs Equip?  Granted I'm sure I will get the equip abilities given stuff like AoE attacks, etc; but weighing out when to get them.

 

Comments appreciated,

Thanks,

Mal

[TheSpiritFox]

Upgrade powers hit your henchman and any  henchman who is within 30 feet of that henchmen, though it only gives the animation towards the one you target. Make sure your minions are clustered up and you only have to cast each upgrade once for all pets to get them. You do not have to individually upgrade each minion, learn the visual signs of upgrades so that you can tell by looking if a hench is fully upgraded, you can also see the upgrades in the buff bar on the side of the pet window (arrow makes it expand or retract)

 

The upgrade abilities are, in general, non negotiable. Most every mastermind build is designed to take the pets and upgrade powers the second they are available, they make a massive difference in pet power overall, though some sets are more affected by it than others. Like, thugs do pretty well without their T2 upgrade, but the T2 increases their overall damage and their aoe damage significantly. By comparison, Bots are kinda anemic until the 32 upgrade which gives the assault bot an attack that spawns burn patches under up to 16 mobs in a 20 foot aoe, which is capable of burning down entire groups in seconds. 

 

You should take the equips as soon as you get them. They make a ton of difference. Maneuvers is something that is often fit in post 35 or in gaps where no new primary/secondary power opens up that level. 

[JStacy337]

Best to get them at the appropriate levels (6 and 32). They will add significant damage and survivability depending on which pets you are using (for example, Zombies will get decent ranged attacks from the L6 power and Life drain from the L32; Grave Knights get 4 new attacks split amongst both upgrades and a life drain; the Lich gets all of it's CC abilities; for Thugs, your Enforcers will get their Leadership abilities from the upgrades)

 

Unless you're going petless, not taking them is a loss

[BZRKR]

In my opinion, unless you are doing something specific and special, the primary "skippable" powers in the Mastermind Primaries are the attacks. The Summoning Powers and the Upgrades are core to building a Mastermind the "normal" way.

[TheMoncrief]

1 hour ago, BZRKR said:

In my opinion, unless you are doing something specific and special, the primary "skippable" powers in the Mastermind Primaries are the attacks. The Summoning Powers and the Upgrades are core to building a Mastermind the "normal" way.

Depending on the specific primary, the "extra" power may be skippable too. Serum for Mercenaries or Repair Robot for Robotics are easily skipped. On the other hand, skipping Hell on Earth for Demons or Gang War for Thugs may well earn you a diagnosis for clinical insanity.

[malleable1]

Cool beans.  Thanks guys.  Yeah, I have skipped the attacks so far, but I'll get the equips now.

 

Mal