Best secondary for thugs?

[Rebel230]

I was wondering what some of the better choices would be for a thugs MM?

[Zumberge]

Let's look at it: Thugs minions have a lot of single-target attacks with a few cones, and with the exception of the Bruiser they're all ranged, so they're good against hard targets like bosses.  The Enforcers get the Leadership auras, which gives your guys defense.  So playing to its strengths, you want a secondary that buffs defense or debuffs to-hit, has good single-target debuffs, and/or some way to handle multiple enemies so you can pick them off one at a time.

 

Cold Domination: Often overlooked in favor of Force Fields, and wrongly so.  You can still bubble your minions and team for similar defense values, but in exchange for knockback powers and a mez resist PBAoE bubble you get some positively wicked debuffs in Infrigidate, Sleet, and Benumb.  Plus Heat Loss is like Fulcrum Shift but for endurance.

 

Dark Miasma: Voted "The Most Controller-Like Defender Primary" in 2005.  Fearsome Stare, Petrifying Gaze, and Tar Patch keep groups under control, Darkest Night gives -to-hit and -damage, and Twilight Grasp keeps your guys topped off on health.  Having a seventh pet in Dark Servant throwing out debuffs and control is just icing on the cake.

 

Poison: On the downside, Poison's heal is kind of iffy since it's single-target, a projectile, and has travel time.  On the upside, I've heard it described as one of the best single-target debuffing sets in the game.  You get Envenom and Weaken very early, which is a one-two punch that ruins the day of anybody you drop them on, and while Poison Trap is a little hard to use (it's a trap you personally need to deploy, which usually means dropping it directly at an enemy's feet to ensure it works in a timely manner), Noxious Gas is just an aura of stank that you can put on your Bruiser so when he charges into melee he makes everyone around him violently ill.

 

Radiation Emission: It's still a really good debuff set with various ways to slow and weaken things.  Do note, however, that it does shine brighter with other teammates, as Fallout can't be used on minions and Accelerate Metabolism provides much less of a benefit to your guys than it does you and other players.  Skip Choking Cloud.

 

Time Manipulation: Admittedly I know very little about this, but the enemy-targeting powers hinge on the use of Time Crawl as an opener, which makes all further debuffs hit the target harder, including Time's Juncture, a PBAoE toggle that gives -to-hit.  On top of that, Farsight provides a good bit of defense and can easily be made permanent.  If you're by yourself putting Temporal Selection on your Bruiser will make him hit harder as well as giving a similar effect as Time Crawl, making all your heals heal more on him.

 

Might've lost the thread there a little bit or left a few sets out, but it's a start.  Didn't just want to leave you with "X is good" without saying why.

 

_{(Plus I may or may not be in love with my own voice.)}

[Rebel230]

Thank you for a very informative reply, appreciate it

[Dixa]

All i will add here is that you don’t mention your goals.

 

The above advice is solid, I will add that if your goal is near effortless av killing, traps is where it’s at.

[Rebel230]

I'm not sure with this one, same as any I guess. dish out solid damage, live to tell about it. I am leaning towards thugs/ dark. The added control will be good for a group I hope and maybe with the debuffs from /dark the pets will live longer. That and who doesn't want gang war? LOL

[Frostweaver]

I would like to throw out an honorable mention for /nature.

 

Corrosive enzymes is what you use to solo the envoy of shadows... with -res and -dmg it is an all around great debuff against bosses and above.

 

regrowth- best aoe heal in the game... Not in numbers (it is quite a bit lower than some others) but once you get used to FACING your minions, you will seldom miss a heal again... and it helps your teammates enormously since they tend to spread all over beyond the confines of a normal radius or targetted heal.

 

Wild Growth- adds resistance and regen... what's not to like? Slotting it up and making it perma can be a little challenging to early characters, though.

 

Spore Cloud- HUGE survival aid. Very valuable to teams and it adds what you need for taking down AV's, -regen. It also reduces incoming damage significantly from most of a spawn. It's kind of like having two rad toggle debuffs rolled into one.

 

Lifegiving spores- While it is stationary, the radius is HUGE, and it gives your pets healing and endurance in long fights, as well as your team (if you have one)... The recharge is also extremely fast, so you can throw it up and KEEP it up every single fight.

 

wild bastion- give yourself, your team, and your pets more HP. what's not to like? Except for that recharge, of course. Ugh.

 

rebirth- I take it, but mostly to use it as a single target heal when the other stuff just isn't enough to keep your bruiser alive. Yes, teams will like it, but it's will top your bruiser off almost every time.

 

entangling aura- Pure crap. Every set has a skippable power. (Edit- I have been informed that it is EXTREMeLY useful for tankerminding, and as a set mule... as I have not experimented with this myself, I will allow you to judge for yourself)

 

Overgrowth- Basically a massive short term buff for everything, along with a massive heal. Usually I rotate this, wild growth, and wild bastion, giving priority to getting this one out first, because it actually adds real damage and accuracy.

 

Yes, there are sets that have some fun stuff you do not, like +recharge, but pets don't GET +rech from buffs.

 

Nature affinity is a very attention-demanding secondary, but thugs, in general, tend to be far less attention-demanding than many other sets except, perhaps, mercs.

 

Unlike many secondaries, YOU get just as much buffing from most of your powers as you give to others. You don't get defense from your secondary, but you aren't stuck only buffing others either... tankerminding with almost tanker-level resistances at times (as well as -damage to enemies) will make bodyguard mode a brick coated in titanium.

 

And of course, Teams love healzors.