Lazy Merc/FF build

[Neiska]

Hello Forums,

 

I decided to try out Mercs, but I have no experience with them or with FF. The general idea is to focus on Group Fly and being lazy/easy to play. I know the slotting for Mercs is a little different, as I have seen procs done all sorts of ways. If someone with Merc and FF experience could take a look at my initial attempt, it would be appreciated. But here are the highlights I am striving for -

 

- I am hoping to use this as a sort of "training wheels" to help some friends/new players learn how MMs work. Not looking for top shelf/GM soloing here, I am more looking for ease of play and still be good. (Hoping it is +4/8 capable.) And namely trying to see if I can make a build that capitalizes on Elusive Maneuver's passive bonus and Force Field's passive playstyle. 

 

- I included Medicine Pool to help with healing a bit, but also to have a END tool as FF does look quite hungry, and I intend on taking Barrier, because I personally really dislike having to rely on ageless or blue candy to make a build work. But since this build won't be doing a whole lot, and the END is only tight with when Repulsion field is on, that should suffice.

 

- With the "lazy" feature, I am hoping to take advantage of Elusive Maneuvers as much as possible. It won't be "completely" hands free of course, but far more than others. The one thing I am uncertain about, is once you take an action, how long the buff from Elusive Maneuvers remains inactive before re-applying again. Far as personal actions goes, I am expecting to just use Serum and Aid Other when necessary, with the occasional Force Bolt.

 

-Have very close to perma-serum, with a 60 sec duration and a 68 sec recast time. And the way it is slotted, it should give 87% resistance, with FF's strong +DEF and the fact this build uses Group Fly, "should" end up with some very sturdy pets, with the option to use Repulsion shield to push away other fliers if necessary.

 

-I did try to stick in pet procs and Achillies -res proc's on the pets, but I am sure it could be done better. I did try to focus on a balance of recharge/pet damage far as pet slotting goes. I did ignore a few of the +def pet auras since FF has that covered in spades but did grab the +res ones.

 

- After talks with @Bionic_Flea I did manage to add Power Boost into the build.

 

-I am unsure what other incarnates to use with a Merc/FF build. I intend to use Agility core, for the Def Buff and Recharge bonus. For Interface I will probably use Degen. I hope I don't have to use Ageless and will be able to use Barrier, but I guess we will see about that.

 

Anyway, for those that know more about Mercs and FF please let me know if pets or FF powers could be slotted better. Honestly, I don't think this looks too bad for my first attempt.

 

Thanks bunches!

 

Lazy Mastermind - Mercs + FF.mbd

[StrikerFox]

Few things:

The build is missing the Steadfast Protection unique for +3% def.

The build is over the cap for LotG +7.5% rech.

Pets do not get the Shield Wall +res bonus when slotted in Tactical Upgrade. Can swap an LotG set for a Shield Wall set.

Probably do not need KB protection. When KB'd while flying, the MM will do a flip in the air and recover quickly. Actually now that I think about it, will the pets do the same when flying? Because I've had pets get KB'd and they lay on the ground for a good minute.

I recommend slotting a single Achilles' in pets and adding a couple more damage procs in their place. In Soldiers or Spec-Ops, Achilles' will trigger fairly often when focusing fire on a single boss/elite/AV. Minions/lieuts will still fall quickly without the -res debuff. I have it slotted in Spec-Ops but Soldiers would be ideal.

I would consider dropping Repulsing Bolt to take Burst for an extra Achilles' if you feel the build needs it.

The +regen portion of the Impervious Skin unique works on Merc pets when slotted in Equip.

I'm pretty sure your Merc pets will be softcap to AoE without the SCotMM ATO. (PB + Shields) + Dispersion + Maneuvers + Tactical Upgrade should put them a bit above +45% AoE def.

 

This is probably how I would slot the pets on your build. SMoS ATOs are slotted in the their proper order in each pet. Soldiers with ATOs 3 and 5; Spec-Ops with 1 and 6; Commando with 2 and 4. Soldiers also have Overwhelming/Soulbound procs. Spec-Ops with SCotMM acc/dam, Commando with Sovereign/Expedient unique.

 

 

Fun build! Good job, man.

[Neiska]

Thank you, I will make the suggested changes. I can answer a few of your questions too!

 

- Yes, a MM can be knocked out of the air, it's happened to me on my other MMs. Elusive maneuvers isn't 100% failsafe but its enough to make a difference. Pets can get knocked out of the air as well, but as far as I know there is nothing that can be done about that save having a high ranged DEF.

 

- I had the KB protection because I was unsure of the interaction between that and Elusive. I will see what else I can put in, but I hope to be knocked out of the air as little as possible.

 

- I actually took Repulsive Bolt over Burst because of the KB to KD, but also of the inherent -15% res, which should stack with the Achillies procs.

 

- As far as the pet stats goes, I have no way to look at them in MIDs and I actually can't check ingame yet. But it's not just softcap I'm worried about, it's also Ranged since I hope to be flying as much as possible, save for maps like caves. But it's not like I can just have it on me and check later on too, so there is that.

 

But thank you very much for the pet slotting, that was my big question was how to slot them and maximize their damage while still having all the must-haves.

[Neiska]

50 minutes ago, StrikerFox said:

Fun build! Good job, man.

 

Here is the MK 2 with the suggested changes, a few of your points were a little confusing but I think I got all that. But this is mostly a checklist for myself -

1. Adjusted pet slotting.

2. Moved 1 slot from Scorpion Shield to Equip Mercenary, added Impervious Skin .

3. Swapped Shield Wall out, replaced with LoTG.

4. Replaced LoTG with Shield Wall in Hover.

5. Added Steadfast Protection to Equip Mercenary. (Lack of other places to put it, it was Equip Mercenary or Serum.)

 

Think that's everything? But here is the build and a screenie for reference.  Your comment about Shield Wall was a little confusing.

 

 

Thank you bunches! Do appreciate.

 

 

Lazy Mastermind - Mercs + FF mk2.mbd

[StrikerFox]

9 hours ago, Neiska said:

- As far as the pet stats goes, I have no way to look at them in MIDs and I actually can't check ingame yet. But it's not just softcap I'm worried about, it's also Ranged since I hope to be flying as much as possible, save for maps like caves. But it's not like I can just have it on me and check later on too, so there is that.

 

We can tell what the pet defenses will be when at 50 and IO'd with the slotting you have in Mids':

Deflection/Insulation (+PB/Agility Core Alpha) will provide +26.71% M/R/A. 
Dispersion (+Agility Core) will provide +12.89% M/R/A
Maneuvers (+Agility Core) will provide +4.2% M/R/A. 

Tactical Upgrade base def values at level 50 is +6.22% range and +3.73% AoE. With the 3 LotG IOs + Agility Core, it buffs those numbers by +69.94%. That will put pet ranged def at +10.57% and AoE at +6.34%.

Your pet totals will be:

Melee    +43.80%
Range    +54.37%
AoE    +50.14%

If the SCotMM ATO was kept, AoE will be at +65.14%. Also for Spec-Ops, add +2.48% to those totals to account for their Stealth power. An Edict or Call to Arm unqiue would get their melee def to softcap too.  

[Hjarki]

Not taking the three personal attacks in primary is going to cost you a ton of damage. Virtually all Mercenary attacks against a target add 33% for each of Burst, Slug and M30 Grenade you've hit the target with in the past 30 seconds. So you'll literally be doing half the damage you should without those attacks against a single target.

[Hedgefund2]

I agree with the sentiment that Merc personal attacks are worth taking, but the actual number is 3.33%, not 33.33%.

 

See the description for Burst, for example.

 

https://cod.uberguy.net./html/power.html?power=mastermind_summon.mercenaries.burst&at=mastermind

[Neiska]

1 hour ago, Hjarki said:

Not taking the three personal attacks in primary is going to cost you a ton of damage. Virtually all Mercenary attacks against a target add 33% for each of Burst, Slug and M30 Grenade you've hit the target with in the past 30 seconds. So you'll literally be doing half the damage you should without those attacks against a single target.

 

It's 3.33% per personal attack, so all 3 together is 10% total damage. Not an insignificant number however.

 

And I will be the first to say this build is far from optimized or min/maxed. It could certainly be better. Some builds have themes. And themes (while awesome) are often far from optimized. And this builds "theme" is being lazy. The general idea is to be as effective as possible, while also being as passive as possible. Hence the name, the "Lazy" Mastermind. 😆

 

Not expecting this build to be taking on AVs or GMs, but if it can solo +4/8 then I will consider it a success!  

[The General]

On 8/8/2023 at 7:04 AM, Neiska said:

but if it can solo +4/8 then I will consider it a success!  

 

This topic came up when looking for builds for my own merc/FF, did you ever reach this milestone?

[Neiska]

6 hours ago, The General said:

 

This topic came up when looking for builds for my own merc/FF, did you ever reach this milestone?

 

With that build I have not, it got sidetracked about the mid 30s or so and I moved onto other stuff. It remains a side-thing that will likely never get done. 😆