Minion durability at low levels?

[delbozz]

Hi all, new to the game and I love pet classes in other MMO's so naturally I fell in love with Mastermind instantly. I'm playing with the Demon set and the Thermal second set and I am running into a weird issue. I'm only level 6 but I am having to constantly heal my pets with the healing aura power, even against white or blue con mobs in the starter area. Is this just the natura of the beast for the minions to be very weak at this level? Or am I missing something. 

 

Any help would be appreciated. I am really enjoying the class but the way the little demon buddies drop so fast is a bit worrying. 

[Jen-Ru9]

It's normal for minions to take damage, especially the first tier. You don't need to constantly heal them if you don't want to, though. Your summon and upgrade powers recharge very fast, so your demonlings are very easy to replace. The higher tier minions will be sturdier, but they're always replaceable.

 

If you're still concerned about it, here are some questions: are you enhancing their damage and accuracy? This is the most important thing to enhance early on. Defeating enemies is a form of damage mitigation, and all that.

 

Are you using personal attacks (which at lvl 6 Demons would be Corruption and/or Lash)? At very low levels, your own attacks do a significant chunk of your damage. This ebbs away as you get more minions, but it's never completely useless. Especially for Demons, since the whip attacks have a pretty strong secondary effect.

 

Did you skip the upgrade power at lvl 6? You should never skip those, each upgrade adds a lot of power to every tier of minion.

 

Thermal also has shields that reduce the damage your minions will take. These are just as important for keeping your minions on their feet as your heals. Properly slotted they'll provide a hefty damage reduction to most damage types. I wouldn't call them essential takes by level 6 or anything, but they're something to keep in mind as you level.

 

There's other, more complex things to consider later, but I think I covered most of the basics?

 

Oh, and finally...welcome to the game! I also joined back in the day for the Masterminds. They remain my favorite archetype to play and I hope my questions have helped you get started playing them. 😊

[tidge]

For Masterminds: If I am going to not charge through levels 1-16, I typically make different power choices in those levels than would make sense in a finished build, because finished builds have more enhancement slots, and more opportunities for late-build "mule" powers.

 

One power set I often take specifically when leveling up is the Medicine Pool, specifically to keep the small number of henchmen alive in tougher fights... like street sweeping Perez Park, at level. After I get more slots, I eventually respec out of Medicine.

[Psyonico]

Get your shields slotted, that will make a difference.  Also, your 2nd tier demons (available at level 12) have a heal power and a resist shield they will cast on the other minions.  Those should help a lot.

 

At level 6, you can't really make too much of a call yet on how something will play.

[Captain Fabulous]

Yeah, they're pretty squishy. Also note that as you get more of them their level drops by one, making them even more squishy. But keep in mind, all the damage they take, you're not.