What's your suggestion?

[Xandyr]

Hey all

   Got 2 RL friends that want the 3 of us to run Thugs MMs (since one of them figured out the Enforcers buff ALL other Thugs henchmen).

  One is pairing it with Nature, and the other is going Dark.

 

 For the most survivability, and to cause the most mayhem, what do you all think I should pair mine with? I'd like to see the suggestions and reasoning.

 

   This oughta be fun!

 

-x

[Lunar Ronin]

 

Time or Electrical Manipulation.

 

Three words: Permanent.  Gang.  War.

[Erratic1]

Marine. 

 

Marine buffs resistance, endurance, damage, and provides an absorb shield on top of debuffing enemy damage, speed, and hp.

 

It's not flashy but is amazingly potent.

[Octogoat]

Time or marine for sure

[tjknight]

Another vote for marine.... it buffs pets very well. 

[Ringo]

FF or Cold.  Your partners bring heals, absorbs, and debuffs, but none of that matters if your minions are dead.  Grab a set with a defense shield and keep everyone upright!  FF keeps you unmezzed while Cold gets you more debuffs.  Triple stacked Enforcer maneuvers is about 24% plus 11% from FF or Cold shields.  That means you need just 10% defense between Dispersion Bubble (or Arctic Fog), Shadowfall, your own Maneuvers, and the MM unique IOs to hit the softcap - easily managed.

 

Never get hit, never surrender!

[tidge]

For Thugs? I think I'd suggest Marine first, with Time close behind. I think these are the best force multipliers, especially for Thugs.

 

As noted above, and elsewhere, Marine brings a LOT to the table... it is an extremely good fit for a MM that won't be 100% paying attention to what the henchmen (or Gang War) are actually doing. It brings some crucial AoE control and enemy debuffs. Time is similar, but I think it falls below Marine.

 

I do want to offer a different perspective on thoughts like this:

 

7 hours ago, Ringo said:

FF or Cold.  Your partners bring heals, absorbs, and debuffs, but none of that matters if your minions are dead.  Grab a set with a defense shield and keep everyone upright!  FF keeps you unmezzed while Cold gets you more debuffs.  Triple stacked Enforcer maneuvers is about 24% plus 11% from FF or Cold shields.  That means you need just 10% defense between Dispersion Bubble (or Arctic Fog), Shadowfall, your own Maneuvers, and the MM unique IOs to hit the softcap - easily managed.

 

Never get hit, never surrender!

 

I strongly believe that for a Mastermind, to focus on the henchmen, as opposed to focusing on the enemies, is paying attention to the wrong thing. I'm not saying to ignore the henchmen's defenses, but the game's rewards are for enemy defeats. The resummon times of all three tiers of henchmen are now PDQ, so I especially think focusing on keeping the henches alive is really old school (or at least: low-level) thinking. Thugs has Gang War in which to drop a lot of the defense/resistance Aura pieces. Mileage may vary depending on what specific content a player may be focusing on (in both solo and teams), but IMO focusing on the hench defenses as the primary point of consideration is a rather narrow focus.

 

I know that this isn't the entirety of Cold or FF MM secondaries, but I do think those don't quite act as the force multipliers that Marine or Time will, across all content.

 

[Maelwys]

Given Nature (Heals/Regen/Absorb, +Damage/ToHit, +Endurance Reduction, Damage Resistance buffs) and Dark (Slow, -ToHit/Regen/DamageResistance debuffs, +Stealth, more +Damage Resistance Buffs)... and all the +Defence and +Damage from Thug Leadership skills...

Yeah, /Marine all the way.

Shifting Tides by itself would clinch the deal; let alone the Synergy between Power of the Depths + Nature's various Regeneration effects and Toroidal Bubble capping your other Resistances. And it brings Endurance and Recovery buffs that the other sets are lacking in. And on-demand enemy deletion in Brine.

TL;DR: