Help with demon slotting and IO sets

[theparadigm]

As the topic says! I could use some advice wrapping my brain around how to do high-concept slotting for demon summoning. Love them as a power set, but every pet having different powers makes it hard to find good commonality to slot for effect.

 

I have access to most of the pet damage sets. I don't have mastermind archetype IO's. I'm trying to avoid purples for now, but could probably spring for 1-2 if its worthwhile.

 

 

I have a few specific questions:

Where is the best place for the chance for build up proc?

If i put the Preventative Medicine - Chance for +absorb proc into Summon Demons(2x), does that benefit the pets? As in, will they gain a small shield when close to dying? Likewise, if I put it in an AOE heal, could I give the benefit to others?

Which set bonuses are worth going for? All in on one, or cherrypick 1-2 piece bonuses?

Is it better to 'frankenslot' for overall effectiveness instead?

Is it a Bad Idea to throw all of the global/aura pet pieces on Hell on Earth just to carry them and get another slot out of each summon power? (as near as I can tell there's 5, which works nicely)

 

Summon Demonlings:(3x) Are there any Slow Movement sets worth adding in here? Is there any way to make them a bit more tough, or barring that, stun/mez enemies? I was poking around in the forum here, and saw one with the +chance for build up on the demonlings. I was wondering why that's a good idea?

 

Summon Demons(2x): I noticed these can take Resist damage, healing and Knockback set as well. (i assume resist pieces only affect the Ember Demon's fire shield, unless its a proc.) Is it possible to put a numina's or Miracle piece in here to help the demons endurance/health? And is it worthwhile to put knockback parts in here, just to boost the Hellfire gargoyle's knockback/knockdown attacks?

 

Demon Prince(1x): This guy seems to be the most straightforward, which is nice! Lots of ice powers. I've been looking at the  Call of the Sandman: chance to heal self as a way to make it take a little less management. If i'm reading this right, it only goes off if he decides to use the Frozen Aura power? Or would Slow movement set pieces be better?

 

 

Any suggestions welcome. I'm at a loss because there's so much variety. Please and thank you!

[theparadigm]

More questions:

 

I heard off hand that mastermind pets do NOT benefit from recharge at all. Is this still true? None of the 'pet damage' sets seem to have recharge pieces in it.

 

It seems the tier 2 and tier3 demon pets can take recharge intensive IO's new (thanks homecoming team?); does this mean the prince actaully benefits from attack speed?

[Fedifensor]

I would put a few pet buff IO’s into Hell on Earth, but not all of them.  For starters, you may want to get the set bonus by having several from the same set in a single power.  Second, you don’t want to make Hell on Earth useless - it’s a fun power that can give enemies a lot of grief.  I would put 4 IOs from Call to Arms (including the Defense Bonus Aura one) into Hell on Earth to improve Accuracy, Damage, and Recharge, and to get the set bonus for global recharge.  Maybe Acc/Dam, Acc/Dam/Rchg, and End/Dmg/Rchg.  If you have the funds later, put in the +Resist/Regen Aura IO and one other IO from Mark of Supremacy, which gives you more global recharge for only two slots.

 

Slotting for the various demon pets can vary, but you should end up with a decent Accuracy and at the point of ED diminishing returns for damage.  Edict of the Master is a good choice, as it has a decent selection of stat boosts, and gives +3% Smash/Lethal resistance for 4 slots.  Later, when you can afford it, Command of the Mastermind should be 4-slotted into one of your pets (Acc/Dam, Dam/End, Acc/Dmg/Rchg, Acc/Dmg, End/Rchg) for the global recharge bonus and general usefulness of the IO bonuses.

[theparadigm]

Thank you very much. This is the core foundation of not-mathhammered but still useful advice I was looking for. I'll look into getting pieces for those sets that I don't have already.

 

is there any particular reason for advocating the call to arms pieces with recharge? I thought pets weren't affected by it, unless recharge intensive pet mods dodge around that?

 

as for hell on earth, I'm using thermal as my secondary. It seems like Forge is just better: 1 minute cooldown for 2 minute boost, vs a 1 minute 30 second boost with a ten minute cooldown. Its nice now and again, but I think i'm better served boosting Forge's cooldown and using it on teammates and big pets.

 

ED limits are around 99%/100% for accuracy, damage and endurance, right? I'd think the golden standard would be getting there with 3-aspect set pieces, and leaving room for 1-2 proc pieces.

[Fedifensor]

is there any particular reason for advocating the call to arms pieces with recharge? I thought pets weren't affected by it, unless recharge intensive pet mods dodge around that?

Call to Arms goes in your Hell on Earth power, which has a notable recharge time.  It also gives global recharge by taking 4 of the 6 pieces in the set.  Global recharge is useful for nearly every character, and it’s pretty easy to get with some of these sets without making sacrifices.

[theparadigm]

After some playing around with it, i have a few other questions:

 

How much accuracy is enough?

 

Right now I have a quick and easy 5x Acc/dam/end cherrypicked from the other sets, plus a proc.

 

If you're using 2-stat pieces, which attribute do you usually de-emphasize a little? Accuracy?

[Fedifensor]

I like to have at least +60% accuracy from IOs, and I run Tactics as well.  My daughter runs Demon/Time, has Tactics, and is also shooting for perma-Farsight (which gives +9% accuracy unslotted).  Accuracy is most important in your lowest-tier pets, since they start two levels lower than you.  I try to get Damage to the point of diminishing returns, though as long as you’re at least at 80% you should be fine.  It’s nice to have a bit of Endurance reduction as well, if you don’t sacrifice Acc or Dmg in the process.

 

If you’re only getting 2 of a set, then set bonuses aren’t going to be a big deal - at that point, you’re slotting for the stat bonuses instead of set bonuses. 

 

Notable thing to look for with pet IOs for Masterminds:

* If you can fit the following 5 unique pet aura IOs into your pet powers (Demon Summoning has 4 different powers that can take them), your demons will be pretty hard to take down - Expedient Reinforcement (+10% Resist), Sovereign Right (+10% Resist), Edict of the Master (+5% Defense), Call to Arms (+5% Defense), and Mark of Supremacy (+10% Resist/Regen Aura).  Try not to put any more than 2 in any one power, as doing so limits your ability to maximize damage and get +60% or higher Accuracy.

* Call to Arms and Expedient Reinforcement both give +Recharge at 4 slots, though the bonus for Call to Arms is double that of Expedient Reinforcement.  I like to have Call of Arms 4-slotted on one of my pets (or Hell on Earth, for Demon Summoning).  However, I skip the +AoE Defense pet aura in Call of Arms, since it’s not as generally useful as the other unique pet-boosting IOs.  The only thing I take from Expedient Reinforcement is the +Resist/Regen Aura, and perhaps the Acc/Dmg IO if I have nothing better to put in the power.  Any IOs from these two sets with Rchg should only go into Hell on Earth, as you shouldn’t need recharge for the others if your pets are durable enough to avoid constant resummoning.

* Smash/Lethal damage are the two most common types of damage in the game.  Sovereign Right gives +2.25% resist for 3 slots, and Edict of the Master gives +3% for 4 slots.  I try to get at least one of those sets in a pet power at sufficient slots to get the bonus.

* Mark of Supremacy is one of the most expensive sets in the game - expect to pay 10+ million per IO on the market.  However, just two slots will give a +6.25% global recharge bonus.  I put 2 slots in each of 3 different pet powers to maximize this benefit.

* Command of the Mastermind is about as expensive as Mark of Supremacy, and doesn’t give a recharge bonus until you get your 4th IO slotted into a power.  However, if you can fit it in, +7.5% global recharge (plus bonus damage and health) is a nice boost.

[Dixa]

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hell on earth 4 slot for 4 of the unique io's. the ato aura go into actual pets

 

I find the best place to put the build up io is the t1 pets to help bump their damage up.

 

you may be asking me why 6 slot tactics? gaussians 6 slot provides more defense than any other set in the game that is the only reason why. the build up proc in that set does nothing for mm's.

 

demons run out of end quickly if you are not going with ageless. the slotting I have here allows me to use ageless or clarion or whatever (I usually still go with ageless cause I like limitless endurance but ymmv). actually even with this slotting the demon prince goes dry very quickly.

[theparadigm]

Alright, I'm looking through that build now and there's a few things that crop up for me:

 

Why thaw, and why heat exhaustion?

Why the recharge speed piece in Hover, and not more defense? (misclick?)

 

Does melt armor have enough accuracy? Thats a favorite power so far.

 

Is Assault just not needed?

 

Is the 5-slot doctored wounds recharge worth it over a 6-slot numina's  ranged defense boost (3.75%) (panacea 5 slot also offers a better recharge boost if you can get it cheaply)

 

Is the impeded swiftness damage proc on the prince really that good? I've been using aself heal proc it means i need to mind him less.

 

If you'd free up slots in that build, where would they come from?

 

Is the placata/taunt resist aura piece from Commanding Presence not worth using?

 

I'm sure i'll come up with a few more, but this is at a glance. Just trying to understand the why's!

 

[Dixa]

I have modified the build but I’m not able to post it right now.

 

I can spot pop thaw on pets that get held or immob. This happens a lot. I dropped Phoenix for six slot corruption with a purple set. Slots came out of tactics as I was way over on smash/lethal defense

 

Both heals are six slot now with a slot removed from both stamina and health. Panacea in one nunima in other. Miracle unique in health.

 

Heat exhaustion is for the hefty -damage and -500% regen. Getting that perma is important for AV fights. Melt armor is there to go with the -res that also comes from two of your demons and corruption. Due to the long recharge rate Achilles heel should fire 90% of the time for an unresistable -20% resists.

 

Thermal is pretty light on end compared to something Like time even when you have t4 ageless running so being lazy and flipping warmth to auto during an active fight is nice maintenance healing every 5 seconds.

 

Assault won’t add that much and there is nothing I would drop for it except corruption but the demons are so tough I need something to do when I’m fighting things that aren’t av or GM. The number of times I’ve had a controller boss lock down two or more pets means I’m not about to drop thaw. The pets gain infinitely more from the tohit in tactic than the damage in assault. I have never run into a situation where taunt and placate have been an issue for pets and I believe demons have inherent resists to both

 

Luck of the gambler provides global recharge. Unless I mis clicked Hover should have the def/global recharge, def/end and def from the set same as manuevers and scorpion shield.

 

While I have tough I don’t actually run it. It’s for parking uniques.

[theparadigm]

Fair enough. Did you know if you put the panacea into Warmth, it can restore extra health and infuse endurance into your pets? Thats why i run warmth all the time. Its pretty awesome!

 

Right now I've been looking at changing Corruption to Lash and Crack Whip. Corruption is good and all(and can take hold procs), but i want to put the force feedback recharge piece into my attack powers. I'm currently using soul mastery, but if I respecced into a different one, I think i'd stack bone fire atop it - with force feedback as well. (

this seems like plenty of CC), and being able to get recharge out of it sounds excellent as well.

 

Thank you for the explanation! I guess i'll drop assault next time!

[Dixa]

Fair enough. Did you know if you put the panacea into Warmth, it can restore extra health and infuse endurance into your pets? Thats why i run warmth all the time. Its pretty awesome!

 

Right now I've been looking at changing Corruption to Lash and Crack Whip. Corruption is good and all(and can take hold procs), but i want to put the force feedback recharge piece into my attack powers. I'm currently using soul mastery, but if I respecced into a different one, I think i'd stack bone fire atop it - with force feedback as well. (

this seems like plenty of CC), and being able to get recharge out of it sounds excellent as well.

 

Thank you for the explanation! I guess i'll drop assault next time!

 

if you can take fire and still soft cap smash/lethal defense on you then go for it. if not then i dont recommend going that route.

 

i have damage proc in corruption and i use corruption entirely because it's ranged. 6 slot purple set because why not. it's only there for the debuff and this build already has perma heat exhaustion and melt armor. having force feedback due to my secondary choice would not really benefit much of anything as i dont obsess over keeping forge up and i only use melt armor and HA for tough single targets.