Are the primary attacks worth it for MMS?

[BronzeElephant]

I’m running a Thugs/EA MM right now and it’s decent but a little dull. Somewhere I picked up the notion that the attacks (Shooting your pistols for Thugs) were terrible and not worth picking and so skipped both of the first two offered. Is this accurate? And are the MM  personal attacks actually good?

Edited September 2, 2023 by BronzeElephant
Misspelling

[C U R S E]

Hey Bronze it depends on the MM power set, after the latest updates, some MM sets got buffed. ninja primaries increase pet crit, Mercs increase pet damage, Necro summons specters. I personally play Necro and use all 3 offensive powers for this reason. I guess it comes down to personal choice, but standing there is pretty boring, agreed. 

[UltraAlt]

2 hours ago, BronzeElephant said:

And are the MM  personal attacks actually good?

 

When I'm playing masterminds, I'm mostly in defensive mode and use either the primary attacks, teleport target, or just jump into a bunch of enemies to start things off. After that, I'm mainly buffing my pets and letting them do the work.'

 

Meanwhile, my petless demon masterminds (all my demon masterminds) get all the whip powers and use teammates as their minions. I target through teammates to attack their same target and use that character as my main buffing/heal/etc. target.

[BronzeElephant]

And I'm looking over my post and I realize that "personal attacks" sounds like MM's run around insulting the enemy, which I also like.

[Bionic_Flea]

Quote

Are the primary attacks worth it for MMS?

 

The answer used to be an easy "no" for me, but as @C U R S E said, the recent MM changes make the attacks not only worth it, but possibly essential.  (Curse neglected to add that Bots moved -regen from the pets to the MM's attacks.)

[tidge]

As mentioned above: If the MM attacks are now doing something they didn't used to do (e.g. -Regeneration in Robotics), perhaps they should be examined.

 

Even before those recent changes; I always found the AoE MM attacks to be better at drawing aggro than Provoke (Concealment pool). Also: the AoE attacks can be slotted with a soft control (like Knockdown) or a %-Resistance piece.

[Tacheyon]

For Necro - Yes 100% do not skip (or at least get 2 out of the 3) - Since they spawn Wraiths that add to your damage (more pets more Damage)

For Mercs & Ninjas - If you can fit them they do add some extra damage through +Dmg for Mercs and +Crit Chance for Ninjas

Demons - I usually take the Cone attack as that does AOE -Res.  But it isn't necessary.

Beasts - I normally take Ravens and Hawk as they do have some good effects, plus you need them to add Frenzy to buff your pets.

I haven't tried Bots much so I can't comment.

Thugs - Pass - Damage is too low and it doesn't really add anything (unless its ascetics). 

[Neiska]

It really is debatable. They won't win any DPS races but they have additional effects/buffs/debuffs that can be useful. How useful those are really depends on personal preference and build. Not all builds/power pairings need the personal attacks. For many, your time are spent doing other things, like buffing, using more powerful debuffing, and the like.

 

Personally, I think most are a gimmick that is supposed to encourage MMs pressing more buttons. Aside from Meme petless mastermind builds, none of them are build-defining. And considering MM low END and damage numbers to begin with, most are a hard pass from me. The only two I consider good is Necro and Beasts and I consider the Robot one essentially a middle finger. And I was a Robot MM main for over 2 years.

[Onlyasandwich]

37 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Necro and Beasts

The whips in demons are super strong, especially procced out.