'Melee' Mastermind advice?

[Azernak1]

Altiholic here! Next thing I wanted to try was a Mastermind but I've got enough people who stay in the back and pewpew so I wanted to try a Mastermind to fights in the thick of things. Doesn't actually have to do damage as a melee person, just something that gets in there with da boys be it support, tank or a third thing. Would have gone Kin as that's full of PBAoE but I already got me a Kin Cor.

 

Disinclined to go Demons because after hearing that cacophony, being in melee with them is something you do when you lose a bet. Necro seems fun because I like the idea of spawning shades/spirits but I have never done an MM so aside from the snarling masses of Hell I am VERY open to suggestions and advice!

 

Hope y'all are doing well. 🙂

 

[Parabola]

Necro/time works very nicely for this. Most of your pets want to be in melee and times juncture gives you a very strong incentive to follow. Chrono shift is very useful for recharging soul extraction too.

[DocMidknight]

2 hours ago, Azernak1 said:

Disinclined to go Demons because after hearing that cacophony, being in melee with them is something you do when you lose a bet.

 

    I have a demon/dark build that stays primarily in melee with them boys.......she suffers from a permanent case of scrapperlock. After a while you've either learned to completely tune out their battle cry or found the volume control and turned that way down when dealing with demons

[Crysis]

I have a Thugs/Time with the MM at softcapped +DEF and the entire fighting pool, including Cross Punch.  Thanks to Times Juncture, which is massive -TOHIT for enemies, I just put myself on Follow for the Bruiser and the two of us just give the beatdowns together.  It’s a lot of fun and gets a ton of laughs from PUG teams when they see me playing “tanker.”  Note that your damage output is pretty anemic, even fully procc’d out, but the Cross Punch knockdown mechanic is pretty good mitigation regardless and makes you look tougher than you really are.

[Xandyr]

9 hours ago, Parabola said:

Necro/time works very nicely for this. Most of your pets want to be in melee and times juncture gives you a very strong incentive to follow. Chrono shift is very useful for recharging soul extraction too.

This ^

 

[Azernak1]

Alrighty, Necro/Time it is. Some more questions:

 

1. What the heck is Soul Extraction? Reading the ability has me quite confused.

2. Is the Spirit mechanic worth it or am I better off just making zombos and Father Timing it up.

3. I know they are zombies but any suggestions on how to make them less braindead? Been leveling up my dude and, to steal from Yahtzee, the pet AI is so thick they might as well be living in cave

 

Thank for all the info! Time seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Azernak1

[Meknomancer]

Soul extraction pops a bunch of spirits, pretty much doubling your pet numbers and dps....provided you click on the right pet and the others are close by. I usually save it for clicking on the Lich when all pets are in melee, i have accidentally clicked a t1/t2 a few times before the rest of the pets caught up and it only popped a couple of spirits which is a total waste.

 

The personal attacks from the mm have a % to spawn a spectre which has a taunt aura. dps is almost non-existent but it will hold aggro for you. Taking personal attacks is totally up to you/depends on your playstyle/secondary/how many slots you have available/power picks left. With necro i always try to fit in at least 2. 

 

I use macro's to control the pets, i hear keybinds are far superior and infinitely more flexible but i just like having a button in the tray i can click to put the whole bunch of pets in specific areas to avoid mass aoe's or just to stay nearby for buffs.

[TygerDarkstorm]

If you're interested in keybind controls, I find these easy to use if you have a full keyboard:

 

[Ashford]

Any updated guide to necro/time because I was thinking this build when I seen how their mechanics would align well considering they also got -tohit debuff/siphon.

[silverpeacock]

I have been working my way through all of the /time masterminds, but I haven't gotten one to 50+, and have not gotten to Mercs. 

 

Ninja/time felt the best out of all of them.  Most postings about ninja are from before the patch, so all you get is repeated tissue paper comments.  After the patch, they have 13-18 defense, granted by the first training power.  

 

Thugs/time was good, but didn't feel right.  To me, /time needs a melee primary.  That said, it will probably be the first one I take all the way to 50.

 

Beast/time was interesting, but the attacks were slow.

 

Necro/time was pretty damn amazing.  The addition of the ghosts was huge.  They didn't do a lot of damage, but could tank, so no individual zombie got dog piled.

 

Demon/time.  Again, it felt like it needed melee to keep everything in Time's Juncture.

 

Bots/time was ok.  Nothing special, nothing terrible, compared to the rest.

[brasilgringo]

On 3/28/2023 at 2:26 PM, Meknomancer said:

Soul extraction pops a bunch of spirits, pretty much doubling your pet numbers and dps....provided you click on the right pet and the others are close by. I usually save it for clicking on the Lich when all pets are in melee, i have accidentally clicked a t1/t2 a few times before the rest of the pets caught up and it only popped a couple of spirits which is a total waste.

 

The personal attacks from the mm have a % to spawn a spectre which has a taunt aura. dps is almost non-existent but it will hold aggro for you. Taking personal attacks is totally up to you/depends on your playstyle/secondary/how many slots you have available/power picks left. With necro i always try to fit in at least 2. 

 

I use macro's to control the pets, i hear keybinds are far superior and infinitely more flexible but i just like having a button in the tray i can click to put the whole bunch of pets in specific areas to avoid mass aoe's or just to stay nearby for buffs.

I don't think you have to click on a pet anymore? It seems I can just click SE without targeting a pet, and it spawns spirits based on # of pets in range when I click it.

[TygerDarkstorm]

21 minutes ago, brasilgringo said:

I don't think you have to click on a pet anymore? It seems I can just click SE without targeting a pet, and it spawns spirits based on # of pets in range when I click it.

No need to click on a pet, correct. And how many spirits it summons is dependent on how many of your henchmen are still alive at time of summons.

[British Battler]

Hello there, I have had a lot of fun with a Thug/Forcefield MM, took the whole fighting pool, Combat Jumping, Acrobatics, Air Superiority and took KO Blow from the patron pools as well. I went into combat alongside the brute pet. Had a backstory worked out that the "lads" in the gang liked working with him as when they were around him they were "lucky" as things missed them and he was lucky for them. The pets had massive defence, softcapped in fact hehe.

 

You have a decent amount of mez protection from the shield and acro/cj and have a massive amount of fun as your team watches in horror as you charge in. Take the presence pool as well to taunt etc 🙂

 

Incarnate wise well musculature and mighty blow are a must but after that choose what you fancy. Melee or assault would fir though support is better for the pets plus barrier works for you and the pets and whatever interface you fancy really. Lore is to taste as well.

 

Hope that helps a little and it was a total blast doing this character.

[brasilgringo]

11 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

No need to click on a pet, correct. And how many spirits it summons is dependent on how many of your henchmen are still alive at time of summons.

I think they have to be within a certain radius of you as well.  If they're too far away (but still alive) they don't get counted for spawning spirits.

[TygerDarkstorm]

5 hours ago, brasilgringo said:

I think they have to be within a certain radius of you as well.  If they're too far away (but still alive) they don't get counted for spawning spirits.

That would make sense; good point!

[Meknomancer]

17 hours ago, brasilgringo said:

I don't think you have to click on a pet anymore? It seems I can just click SE without targeting a pet, and it spawns spirits based on # of pets in range when I click it.

 

 

Quick test, your absolutely correct, good to know. I'm still waiting on the t3 to arrive before using it, the other pets all melee so they're in range most of the time, the Lich is usually hanging back using ranged mez/attacks so i still use it as my point of reference before using soul extract, too many times hitting it when its not there and you only spawn a couple of spirits.