Mastermind Options

[Spock2020]

Looking to make a MM was looking for the most DPS combination? any builds and specs information appreciated Thank

[Neiska]

5 hours ago, Spock2020 said:

Looking to make a MM was looking for the most DPS combination? any builds and specs information appreciated Thank

 

Hello Spock, 

 

Here's a breakdown -

 

Necro - is regarded as one of the strongest, if not the strongest. It boasts a lot of -tohit from the pets, who can also heal themselves a bit, they can be loaded with damage procs, and also have a unique advantage over pet sets in that you can equip them with health proc effects. Also your grave knights eventually have a damage aura. And as a neat bonus, your personal attacks can summon bonus specters. The specters don't do much damage by themselves, but are great to tie things up. I am currently leveling a new Necro/Nature MM myself.

 

Demons - Demons advantage is its sort of a "shotgun" style of attacks - lots of different elements, a few different attack types. They have res buffs, one pet has a damage aura, and the other t2 can heal. Its perk is it has a power that can act as a mule for the pet auras.

 

Thugs - thugs can hit hard for a MM. Arsonist and your pocket Bruser in particular. It also has Gangwar, which if you take burnout from speed, you can use "twice." It also has a mule power. The downside to thugs is that the enforcers buff the thug pets... but not you. So you are more or less left to your own defenses.

 

Ninjas - I have heard ninjas are quite offensive, but a bit fragile. I have never leveled one myself but have heard good things. Your personal attacks give your pets a chance to crit.

 

Mercs - Mercs are well balanced. They are an all-ranged pet set, that can get very good resists from serum. And since they are ranged you can abuse group fly to have an all-flying strike team. Flying makes quite a bit of difference in pets surviving, as not many enemies have full ranged attack chains, and even fewer have -fly abilities. Which means fewer attacks are even attempted against your pets to begin with, before all other considerations come into play. This isn't foolproof or a fix-all, it varies from map to map and enemy to enemy. Some enemies like Arachnos have a lot of ranged attacks, and maps with ceilings means you cant hover out of melee range. But it makes a difference in most situations.

 

Secondaries -

For raw DPS, storm is the go-to. But it takes a bit of getting used to, and is a bit chaotic. You effectively make AOEs and more quasi pets that do their own attacks. Not many buffs or defenses to speak of specifically. It has a heal, and steamy mist for defense, but thats essentially it.

 

Kinetics is also a good option to boost damage. The issue with Kinetics is that's essentially all it is - speed, recharge, damage, recovery, etc. No defenses, no resists. It does have a heal but that is all. So your pets may hit hard, but won't have much defenses.

 

Pain, Heat, and Nature all have +damage buffs. Though damage is not their specialty. 

 

So any of those pet sets mentioned, with any of these, will have damage boosts. An important note though, is even an MM made to focus on Damage, is only sort of middle-ground compared to other ATs. They can put up decent enough numbers, but the problem arises later down the road on higher difficulties, particularly with pets being susceptible to AoE's.

 

But if raw damage output is all you are concerned with, then any of these pets with /Storm or /Kinetics will have good damage, at least for a MM.

 

Hope this helps narrow it down a bit for you.

 

Mastermind well and prosper!

Edited May 12 by Neiska

[twozerofoxtrot]

To tack onto what Neiska provided, I have found that /Dark (counterintuitively) is a great DPS booster.

 

Tap Patch will snare your enemies while lowering their damage resistance, making them easy, vulnerable targets.

 

On Archvillains and Elite Bosses, you can use Howling Twilight offensively (no dead friend needed) to massively debuff the enemy regen by -500 for 30 seconds. This can't be made permanent but usually it's enough to make a significant dent in HP. Your heal, Twilight Grasp, also debuffs regen by -50 which can help you stymie the AV or EB's regen if it's a problem otherwise; this is permanent at level 1.

 

Finally, Fearsome Stare can take two damage procs and while that's not alot, the proc rate is quite good for a cone. I use this as a backup AoE to supplement my primary attacks. The extra damage is helpful.

 

Edited May 12 by twozerofoxtrot

[Maelwys]

I've already responded to Spock via PM - but thought it was worth repeating my take on this here too, just in case anyone else is similarly curious and happens upon this thread:
 

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Looking to make a MM what primary and secondary powers would you chose for the most dps? also would you have a build specced with enchancements for this? thanks in advance

Really depends what context -

DPS builds aimed at (for example) killing a Pylon in the fastest time are different from "Trapdoor Mission" DPS builds (which is another well-accepted benchmark of DPS)  ...and both those are different from builds that want to AE farm as quickly as possible.
Are you intending to mostly Solo or Team? Are you wanting to focus on Farming AE missions or Killing AVs/GMs? Do you want to be effective at level 50 or also when exemplared doing lower-level TFs (and if so at what level)?
And most importantly for a Mastermind - what difficulty level do you intend to play at outside of Incarnate Content?

There's no one-size fits all approach unfortunately.

If you're soloing then you'll need to survive whatever aggro you pull - surviving the attacks of an AV is different than surviving farming AE missions at 4x8 difficulty, and if you're intending to handle Incarnate content and/or Hard-mode TFs then there's a whole different set of Defence and Accuracy requirements. Tier 1 henchmen also need a LOT more help when they fight anything over +4 to them (+2 to you) which means difficulty setting is a big factor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

However I appreciate that's not hugely helpful... so as a few general rules of thumb?

- Primaries - 
Bots is best for AoE damage.
Necro is best for ST damage.
Demons and Mercs are good all-rounders; with Thugs pretty close behind.
Ninjas can be built for pretty good damage but you need to really exploit their "Critical hit" mechanic.
Beasts are the worst by a large margin.

- Secondaries - 
Kinetics is king of damage; but needs a lot of investment and effort to survive.
Traps is the best solo AV/GM killer; mez protection, loads of -regen, a bit of AoE damage (Trip Mine) and healing (stick the Panacea proc in Triage Beacon) and the FFG helps you softcap. It's SLOW though - you can only move as quickly as the FFG; and that's turtle pace compared with most toons.
Forcefield and Cold make Softcapping your pet defences much easier. FF gives more defence and mez protection (and its bubbles stack with Power Boost), Cold gives more debuffs (including -regen which is important for fighting AVs)
Thermal and Pain and Nature and Elec are all Resistance-based sets with decent AoE healing; they play very similarly but Thermal performs the best and Elec the worst. Just be aware that they won't help you softcap your pet defences at all.
Dark and Radiation are strong debuff sets; and debuffs are very good until you fight things that are higher-level than you and/or AVs (when they get neutered by the purple patch and AV resistances).
Sonic is rubbish on MMs. It's basically Thermal with no debuffs or healing.
Poison is rubbish full-stop. Radiation beats it in every single category.
Empathy is usually a good powerset, but not on MMs. It relies on Fortitude which is very difficult to get enough recharge on to buff more than 4-5 of your pets simultaneously and you can't Power Boost all of those activations. Adrenaline Boost is mostly wasted on pets too, unfortunately.
Storm is decent, but it's difficult to play well. It's a mix of utility, debuffs (with Hurricane taking up a lot of slack), CC and direct damage (Lightning Storm). A bit like a mix of Traps and Radiation.
Time - as long as you take Farsight and Power Boost and Radial Clarion Incarnate - is by far the best all-rounder. It lets you softcap you and your pets, has debuffs (including -regen), grants a fair bit of +damage, has AoE Healing, slows, holds, etc... and if you can get Chrono Shift perma for team content it's fantastic.

"Best all rounder" is probably Demons/Time... it won't be highest DPS in any particular category; but it'll perform decently at almost anything and very survivable. Again, the main thing to remember is to combine Power Boost + Radial Clarion + Farsight every 120 seconds - in the example below that'll buff you and your pets by +28.38% def instead of the regular +14.73% def.
zMastermind - Demons - Time.mbd

Personally the MM I've invested the most into is probably my Bots/Kin/Flame; which is specced for AoE DPS and does pretty well at AE Farming - I've posted its build most recently in this post

Spock then confirmed that they're thinking about a Demons/Storm.
I don't have firsthand recent experience with that particular combo but perhaps someone else reading this might? 🙂 
 

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was looking for mostly team do missions and TF's  Was gonna try demons and storm

 

Storm isn't exactly team friendly, as most of it's CC comes from high mag knockback and repel, it moves pretty slowly (Lightning Storm and Freezing Rain are the big DPS boosts and they're both immobile) and it requires you to get into melee range to leverage Hurricane's ToHit debuff.

 

I'm sure you could make it playable (slotting all it's powers with Knockback>Knockdown IOs is a good start) but it'll be a case of shoring up the set's shortcomings rather than playing to it's strengths.

 

Last decent chat I can see about that powersets combo is here - and it's mostly about solo performance.

 

[Bandari]

On 5/11/2024 at 8:52 PM, Neiska said:

 

Hello Spock, 

 

Here's a breakdown -

 

Necro - is regarded as one of the strongest, if not the strongest. It boasts a lot of -tohit from the pets, who can also heal themselves a bit, they can be loaded with damage procs, and also have a unique advantage over pet sets in that you can equip them with health proc effects. Also your grave knights eventually have a damage aura. And as a neat bonus, your personal attacks can summon bonus specters. The specters don't do much damage by themselves, but are great to tie things up. I am currently leveling a new Necro/Nature MM myself.

 

Demons - Demons advantage is its sort of a "shotgun" style of attacks - lots of different elements, a few different attack types. They have res buffs, one pet has a damage aura, and the other t2 can heal. Its perk is it has a power that can act as a mule for the pet auras.

 

Thugs - thugs can hit hard for a MM. Arsonist and your pocket Bruser in particular. It also has Gangwar, which if you take burnout from speed, you can use "twice." It also has a mule power. The downside to thugs is that the enforcers buff the thug pets... but not you. So you are more or less left to your own defenses.

 

Ninjas - I have heard ninjas are quite offensive, but a bit fragile. I have never leveled one myself but have heard good things. Your personal attacks give your pets a chance to crit.

 

Mercs - Mercs are well balanced. They are an all-ranged pet set, that can get very good resists from serum. And since they are ranged you can abuse group fly to have an all-flying strike team. Flying makes quite a bit of difference in pets surviving, as not many enemies have full ranged attack chains, and even fewer have -fly abilities. Which means fewer attacks are even attempted against your pets to begin with, before all other considerations come into play. This isn't foolproof or a fix-all, it varies from map to map and enemy to enemy. Some enemies like Arachnos have a lot of ranged attacks, and maps with ceilings means you cant hover out of melee range. But it makes a difference in most situations.

 

Secondaries -

For raw DPS, storm is the go-to. But it takes a bit of getting used to, and is a bit chaotic. You effectively make AOEs and more quasi pets that do their own attacks. Not many buffs or defenses to speak of specifically. It has a heal, and steamy mist for defense, but thats essentially it.

 

Kinetics is also a good option to boost damage. The issue with Kinetics is that's essentially all it is - speed, recharge, damage, recovery, etc. No defenses, no resists. It does have a heal but that is all. So your pets may hit hard, but won't have much defenses.

 

Pain, Heat, and Nature all have +damage buffs. Though damage is not their specialty. 

 

So any of those pet sets mentioned, with any of these, will have damage boosts. An important note though, is even an MM made to focus on Damage, is only sort of middle-ground compared to other ATs. They can put up decent enough numbers, but the problem arises later down the road on higher difficulties, particularly with pets being susceptible to AoE's.

 

But if raw damage output is all you are concerned with, then any of these pets with /Storm or /Kinetics will have good damage, at least for a MM.

 

Hope this helps narrow it down a bit for you.

 

Mastermind well and prosper!

I play a lot of MMs, so to touch on a few things that were missed:

 

Necro - Lich, the T3 does not have a lot of damage, but does perform a ton of crowd control and debuffing which all helps survivability.  I am running an incarnate Necro/Time right now, and it handles the job very well.  Slotting the upgrades for heal really made a huge difference with the life drain attacks.

 

Demons - they are very tough, in my mind, the tankiest individual pet without adding buffs.  The T3, the Prince, adds in a fair amount of crowd control. Noisy.  Really noisy.

 

Thugs - Keeping the arsonist alive is your job.  I like Spirit ward for that.  The T2 has a defensive buff that affects the minions, but not you.

 

Ninjas and Beasts - Quiet, thank goodness.  If I could keep them near me, they would be fantastic, but they chase.  My best advice is to keep them attacking a specific target.

 

Bots - I like Bots a lot, but in the beginning, they feel slow.  Noisy.  They clank every step they take.  There is a huge wait between attacks that I never noticed before.  The T3 is great for AOE damage, and seeker drones to take some hits.  The T2s bubble your team including you, adding to survivability and then heals.  

 

Mercs - Noisy guns.  If you like that, cool.  I can't decide whether I love or hate mercs.  New Mercs, not old.  Initially, they fire at a massive rate, making other pets types feel slow.  For the first couple of levels, they are definitely my favorite.  After that, they lose a lot of luster.  No heal til 18, no resist, I don't know numbers, but the damage doesn't feel spectacular.

 

Frankly, I'd rather have a pet group that can semi-self support than one that does super damage.  I like self buffers.  I like sets with a healer.  You will get mezzed, stunned, held. You will have times where your heal is down. Replacing a minion isn't game over, but its irritating and having to replace multiple minions per fight turns me off of a set fast.  Out of all of them, Necro and Bots are my gotos.  Tough and heal themselves.  Lich just adds in more that I want.  Enjoy the game.  Have fun.

[tidge]

For "maximum DPS" from MM henchmen, I believe it is all about debuffing the enemies, and making sure the henchmen are focused on the debuffed enemies. IMO: It's the secondaries that should be looked at first. Tar Patch (from Dark) is the earliest available, and IMO best of the MM debuff powers. I would not sleep on Traps, because Caltrops / Acid Mortar / Poison Trap are all excellent debuff sources. Traps also includes Trip Mine and Detonator, although I use neither.

 

Having written about choosing secondaries, it is entirely possible to slot both primary (MM attack) powers and secondary powers to apply %-Resistance via Enhancements.

[Meknomancer]

Mercs are all you need. Dark or Time or Cold or Traps. Win.

[WumpusRat]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:44 AM, Meknomancer said:

Mercs are all you need. Dark or Time or Cold or Traps. Win.

 

I really enjoy my merc/thermal. Drop forge on the spec-ops and commando, serum them all up, thermal shields, and they're sitting at 90% resist vs everything but psionic, around +65% damage (serum, supremacy, assault, and +95% for the ones with forge) and slap the target with melt armor, and ... well, it tends to melt. 

Edited May 20 by WumpusRat

[Meknomancer]

14 hours ago, WumpusRat said:

 

I really enjoy my merc/thermal. Drop forge on the spec-ops and commando, serum them all up, thermal shields, and they're sitting at 90% resist vs everything but psionic, around +65% damage (serum, supremacy, assault, and +95% for the ones with forge) and slap the target with melt armor, and ... well, it tends to melt. 

 

Agreed, mercs/thermal is one of my favourites but its a lot of work keeping forge on perma, especially when teaming. Only reason i put those 4 secondaries up was the ease of play, theres like 2 clicks/mob and its over and your only watching for serum. And thermals debuffs still don't recharge fast enough to match any of the other 4.

[Force Redux]

No mention of /Nature?

 

Great hybrid set with easy strong heals, resists, Regen, absorb, some pbaoe control, some debuff, dam/acc buffs, end recovery... Everything almost but +defense.

 

Pair it with virtually anything. I have it with mercs and it's brilliant. Easily competes in fun and effectiveness with /Dark.