Mastermind Newbie!

[Redletter]

8 hours ago, StriderIV said:

*IMMEDIATELY ROLES A MERC MASTERMIND*
 

😂😂😂 just playing my friend! It is hard for me to express how much I enjoyed this post, thank you! Very helpful.

As much as i put them down, and I didnt say this in my post (as I feel it should need not saying) but YOUR fun is the most important thing. I have a Merc/Emp MM, this is potentionally the *single* most useless character in the game that I made in total ignorance of this fact. I though 'Oh! I have a medic! I can play like, a G.I Joe character, with my cool squad of action figures!' and I learned far too late this was the gameplay equivalent of eating sand to hydrate yourself.

 

But. Sometimes... sometimes you just wanna eat some sand. And with a team, most content won't prove insurmountable regardless of the presence of a Mercmind.

 

So, please, play whatever you want. I find Mercs fun, despite them being objectively horrible. I'd be fine if they stayed bad just so we can all joke about how bad they are. You can find fun in the oddest of places.

[ScarySai]

On 1/31/2022 at 1:41 PM, StriderIV said:

Are there any MM powerset suggestions that you'd recommend? Some strong pairings, or maybe ones that are easier to pilot than others?

Thugs/traps is great for a first timer, was my very first villain to hit 50 way back when. Plus, you get a very good pet set and a very well balanced support set that really starts blooming early.

 

Once you're more familiar with pets, you can try some crazier, more micro-intensive combos like thug/storm, or something more personally active like demon/cold.

Edited February 14, 2022 by ScarySai

[Xandyr]

21 hours ago, Redletter said:

As much as i put them down, and I didnt say this in my post (as I feel it should need not saying) but YOUR fun is the most important thing. I have a Merc/Emp MM, this is potentionally the *single* most useless character in the game that I made in total ignorance of this fact. I though 'Oh! I have a medic! I can play like, a G.I Joe character, with my cool squad of action figures!' and I learned far too late this was the gameplay equivalent of eating sand to hydrate yourself.

 

But. Sometimes... sometimes you just wanna eat some sand. And with a team, most content won't prove insurmountable regardless of the presence of a Mercmind.

 

So, please, play whatever you want. I find Mercs fun, despite them being objectively horrible. I'd be fine if they stayed bad just so we can all joke about how bad they are. You can find fun in the oddest of places.

Hello. My name....my name is Xandyr. And i..I...

I.

I play Mercs.

 

 But not just one Merc MM. But several.

What? Why do I hate myself? Why do you ask that. Do you think I hate myself for playing different combinations of Mercs? Well, that's a valid point,  but anyway...

 

 So...uhm, yeah. I've played Mercs with FF, Thermal, Pain, Storm, and Nature. 

 

What? A glutton for punishment? Me? Well...

 

 In all honesty, I had FUN with Mercs paired with Pain, Storm, and Nature. My favorite would be a toss up between Pain and Nature. Both help survivability of your pets and team. I really like the Absorb and +damage from Nature. 

 

 Mercs get a bad name...they really do. And, it's pretty much deserved. They are the LOWEST damaging MM Primary. Any damage boost from whatever secondary you choose will make you think "WOW! MY PETS ARE FREAKIN' PWNING THESE GUYS NOW!!!". HOWEVER, that damage boost literally just brings their damage up to almost equal to all the other primaries. Seriously. 

  One thing that Mercs DO have going for them is Cascading Defense Failure.  What's this? Well, pretty much almost all of your Tier 1 Soldiers' attacks do -Defense debuff. And What's so great about Defense debuffs? You can slot Achilles Heel:Chance for -Resistance. 

 Now, with this slotted, you're pretty much guaranteed to always debuff your enemies' Defense AND their Resistance!

 

   If you're fighting a really tough opponent,  over a little bit of time your Soldiers will floor the enemy's Defense AND put a decent Dent in their Resistance.  Couple that with your Interface of your liking, and even though your teammates won't say anything,  YOU will know that you actually helped and contributed tons. (at least tell yourself that so you feel better about your picks).

 Plus, seeing all those brass shells littered all over the place is just cool. It screams " MERICA!" 

[ScarySai]

1 hour ago, Xandyr said:

I had FUN with Mercs paired with Pain, Storm, and Nature

 

[biostem]

On 1/31/2022 at 2:41 PM, StriderIV said:

Does anyone have any tips/advice for a newbie?

First thing I'd suggest is to play what you find fun.  Use the customization tab of the character creator interface to see what the different powers look like.  Understand that as you level up, and even with you getting more pets as you do, you will need to support, and in many cases, protect your pets.  This is where your secondary powerset really comes into play.  For instance, kinetics has a heal centered around the target, which is beneficial if you have melee pets, whereas darkness has a heal that is centered around you, which is better when you're standing amidst your pets.  Certain pets, like ninjas, have innate defense, so secondary sets that further buff that defense or reduce an enemy's chance to hit would benefit them.  You mentioned electrical affinity, and while it is a good set, keep in mind that powers like Farraday cage work in a fixed location - so pets that may need to run up to an enemy to engage them will frequently find themselves outside of that buff zone.  Other powers jump between targets, so if your pets are often spread out, such chaining effects may not reach them.  Some other key things to know about MMs is that you can get your 1st pet at level 1, then you get another tier-1 pet a level 6, and a 3rd at 18.  You can get your tier-2 pet at level 12, and a second of them automatically at level 24.  Your final, tier-3 pet can be had at level 26.  There are also 2 upgrade powers that add to each pets' selection of attacks and abilities, so I wouldn't pass them up.  Cheers!

[Xandyr]

20 hours ago, ScarySai said:

 

 

You're just jealous because Mercs LOVE me like I love them. True, they'll always fail me and disappoint me. But they're always there. Always waiting for me with open arms. They love me, and I love them.

   You must embrace the suck. No need to deny it or be jealous...there's room for everyone aboard this suckage train.

[Errants]

2 hours ago, Xandyr said:

   You must embrace the suck.

Somone's military...

[ScarySai]

46 minutes ago, Errants said:

Somone's military...

Should change the serum power into a crayon box.

[Redletter]

7 hours ago, ScarySai said:

Should change the serum power into a crayon box.

yummy!

[biostem]

4 hours ago, ScarySai said:

Should change the serum power into a crayon box.

I always thought it'd be so awesome if you could call in an air strike or something...

[Errants]

4 hours ago, ScarySai said:

Should change the serum power into a crayon box.

I would roll Mercs in an instant.

[pblue]

One of my favourite characters is a Merc/Force FIeld Mastermind.  Neither primary or secondary are well regarded for perfectly valid reasons, but somehow that combination works well for me and has taken me passed Vet level 100 without even trying, all the way solo (+4 level.  x1 or x2 team size, no AV).

 

I find this character performs as well if not better as my other Incarnate level characters,  Mastermind and other ATs under the exact same conditions. Which leads me to conclude I must screwed up badly the build for these other characters. Or maybe it's only with AVs that you can tell the difference?

[StrikerFox]

Comments makes it sound like Mercs are unplayable but they're very usable. Their damage may be low. Their T2 pets are probably the worst of all MMs. Their T3 pet's power have narrow cones, long animations/cooldowns. T1 pets are just meh and the Medic has that red target painted on his back for a reason. It just screams, "Kill me! I'm here, kill me! What are you waiting for?! Come on, do it now!" Serum just sucks arse... I forgot where I'm going with this...

 

As for tips, MM commands are not powers, they have no cast time. So while an actual power is animating, commands (aggressive, defensive, passive, stay, goto, follow, attack my target and dismiss) can be given to pets simultaneously. During a live, a friend avoided playing MMs because he thought commands had to be queued like normal powers. I told him and that alone convinced him to try an MM for the first time. He still hated it.

[Crysis]

On 1/31/2022 at 7:17 PM, Apparition said:

FWIW, IIRC the developers are itching to kill the Farsight + Power Boost combination with fire at some point, so I wouldn't make that the sole decision to go with Mace Mastery although Scorpion Shield is very worthwhile.

 

Also, I forgot to mention and it hasn't been brought up yet: If you go Robots, you probably want to slot the tier one and tier three pets with KB to KD IO enhancements, unless you like seeing your Robots blast mobs out of your fire patches.

 

Late to this thread, but just saw this.

 

There are some “Top Tier” builds that will face some significant challenges if and when the PB+FS nerf goes into play.  Bots/Time, one of my favorites, is a good example.  Not that they can’t be still quite powerful, but that you’ll be forced to focus on some different slotting techniques and not be so free to focus on damage and proc-play.

[Crysis]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:31 AM, biostem said:

I always thought it'd be so awesome if you could call in an air strike or something...

 

I think the new Seismic powers give you some ability to at least animate an Air Strike so….maybe?

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, Crysis said:

I think the new Seismic powers give you some ability to at least animate an Air Strike so….maybe?

 

I mean, all you'd have to do is have your character take out their walkie, do some sort of pointing motion, then have a missile or other projectile fall from the sky to the targeted area...