Guide-ish: Beginner Binds for Masterminds

[Zvi]

Hiyo!

 

I've come across a bit of grumbling about Mastermind pets in early-level PUGs, and thought maybe I ought to share some ancient wisdom somewhere. None of this is likely new to any experienced Mastermind player - and there are good resources out there for more fine control; but if you're just starting out or - like me - just plain lazy, these three binds I've been using since pretty much the inception of the AT'll do ya for most content.

You can change these to whatever keys work best for ya - or make macros, even! I play with one hand on WASD and the other on the mouse, so I keep everything pretty close together.

/bind e "petcom_all follow def"
More than just the button for Bodyguard, this also functions as The Almighty Reset Button - with a bit of hammering. This makes it probably my most-used key. Pets chasing after a runner and threatening to face-pull a whole new pack? Mash this a few times and they'll drop target to return to you. It's important to note that this isn't a hard reset. Just as you can interrupt their actions, the order itself can be interrupted by anything that switches their focus priority - so, basically, mash it and keep mashing it until they've stopped doing whatever it is you don't want them to do.

/bind q "petcom_all att agg"

The Focus Fire button! This is great for ranged pets, but also good in combination with the third bind. There's really not a whole lot to say about this one on its own. If your pets are attacking something you don't want them to attack, this'll put them back on track.

 

/bind t "petcom_all goto agg"

A very underrated button! This one has all kinds of uses; but I mostly use it to move melee pets into melee range - then follow up with 'q' to get them on target. This mostly negates melee pets getting stuck outside of melee range spamming their ranged attacks; though they do sometimes find a way to do so regardless. You can also use this to put ranged pets with cones into a good position for hitting the most targets with said cones. Sometimes it's also fun to just leave 'em somewhere to intercept and ambush - especially if you have lots of traps set out nearby. You could also use passive instead of aggressive, since using the focus-fire button will switch them to aggressive anyway. You can also use this to move them out of things like caltrops and burn patches - though they're as likely as not to just run right back into them once they resume attacking, if they're melee.

Basically, managing pets is like managing a bunch of eager puppies - they like to hyper-focus on one 'priority' at a time and you're really just there to change what that priority is by shouting at them until they finally decide to stop ignoring you; which generally doesn't take much - or maybe less than it used to?

[tidge]

I used to rely on binds for MM henchmen controls (on Live) but for a couple of reasons I stopped using them and just put macros in trays for "all" of the henchmen (as a group): the four actions, and the three stances (green, blue, red). I'm pretty sure I just drag and drop icons from the pet window(s), editing if necessary to make sure the icon affects "all" but here are the actions (like I said, I think I just drag the stances):

 

/macro_image "PetCommand_action_Goto" "GoTo" "petcom_all goto"

/macro_image "PetCommand_Action_Dismiss" "Dismiss" "release_pets"

/macro_image "PetCommand_Action_Stay" "Stay" "petcom_all stay"

 

/macro_image "PetCommand_Action_Follow" "Follow" "petcom_all follow"

 

I recommend putting "Dismiss" somewhere it won't be clicked accidentally.

 

The main reason I abandoned binds for MM is that I can't remember which "character unique" binds do what (for any given character)! The other reason is that because of a series of accumulating changes to MMs (some from Live, most from Homecoming) I find I don't need to have such fine control (quickly via binds) over all the henchmen. We have really fast resummon times, the upgrades apply en masse to all henches in a radius of the target (no need to specifically target any one henchmen or pet), the cost of enhancements is low enough to make them all obtainable, etc.

 

As a practical matter, there are only a limited set of circumstances when I want my henchmen doing different things... so the pet window serves this purpose just fine. These circumstances aren't rare (for the content I play), but I don't have to change the stances often enough (and I'm not usually in "panic mode" constantly resummoning defeated henchmen).

 

The MM play experience changes while leveling up more than any other AT... so I don't want to completely dismiss the idea of more "fine control" of henchmen, or other alternative (pool) powers that might want specialty binds for (specific) henchmen targeting: Aid Other, Spirit Ward, Enflame, Grant Invisibility, whatever. Specific/Individual henchmen may warrant specific controls based upon playstyle, based upon their attacks... but generally I just direct the henches as a group.