/Kin MM Repel + Sudden Acceleration IO + Provoke = Tankermind?

[tjknight]

So I was having a lot of trouble with my Demon/Kin MM. She's only lvl 28. But I've reached the point were enemy groups have access to good aoe's. Plus /Kin doesn't offer much in the way shields for pets. Transfusion is a great heal, but pets have to stay in range. Which they often don't!

 

Today was particularly frustrating. I was attempting to clear a Family mission, but my speed-boosted pets would get aggro-ed. Which resulted in them running away from me, getting themselves killed. I came to the boards and read through a few things. After, some thinking I went back in-game and made two changes to the build.

 

- Picked up Repel and Provoke

- Bought and slotted the "Sudden Acceleration Knockback to Knockdown" into repel.

 

Then I went back into the mission and tried things again. The pets were put into Defensive_Follow. Then I went from mob-to-mob with repel toggled on, while I provoked. It worked like a charm, the pets stayed close to me and didn't aggro run off. The Repel + Provoke kept mobs aggroed on me. The KB to KD worked well enough, so mobs weren't too badly scattered. Mish was successfully finished and I felt 100% better about my MM.

 

So this may be an option for those who are having trouble with using /Kin on a MM. 

[Microcosm]

Wow, I literally made a demon/kin Mm last night with this exact tactic in mind! He's level 15, so I can't slot the kb to kd io yet, but he's already a lot of fun. The same tactic I'm sure works with other primaries, but demon I think I remember being the best in bodyguard mode because their resistances apply to the damage you're sharing.

[tjknight]

Wow, I literally made a demon/kin Mm last night with this exact tactic in mind! He's level 15, so I can't slot the kb to kd io yet, but he's already a lot of fun. The same tactic I'm sure works with other primaries, but demon I think I remember being the best in bodyguard mode because their resistances apply to the damage you're sharing.

 

I was in complete shocked it worked.  There are some things I've run into however.

- Repel is an energy hog.

- Mobs with strong holds or blind effects can completely ruin this strategy.

- Keeping the pets in BG mode at all times is very important.

- The lack of strong debuffs is noticeable against EB's or AV's.

 

For example, I took my Demons in to battle Castillo. Between his large hit point pool, strong attacks, and 'blinding powder' spam, I just died repeatedly. Ended up just abandoning that mission. Also, the Drudges in Night Ward wiped the floor with my MM. All those holds, meant I couldn't spam heals or provoke. So the pets went nuts, and the NPC's killed them easily.

 

[Microcosm]

Ive noticed the Mez issue too already. What I am planning is to use insp combine binds to always have break frees available. I've used this tactic on other characters without Mez protection and it works very well if you don't need other insp types. I bet once transfusion comes along the endurance issue will go away.

[Sir Myshkin]

Something to add to this: Whirlwind (from the Speed Pool) can be used the same way. Drop Sudden Acceleration KB>KD into the power with a couple of End Redux and you can spin around the place dropping mobs to the floor, so any MM set can get away with doing this.

An important thing to remember though, by the time you get to 50 a lot more mobs will come at you with some resistance/protection against KB/KD (I'm looking at you Rikti!) which can put a real dampener on doing this.

[SmalltalkJava]

On 7/23/2019 at 6:48 PM, Sir Myshkin said:

Something to add to this: Whirlwind (from the Speed Pool) can be used the same way. Drop Sudden Acceleration KB>KD into the power with a couple of End Redux and you can spin around the place dropping mobs to the floor, so any MM set can get away with doing this.

An important thing to remember though, by the time you get to 50 a lot more mobs will come at you with some resistance/protection against KB/KD (I'm looking at you Rikti!) which can put a real dampener on doing this.

Hmm.   Does anyone know if Whirlwind with the IO and Repel with the IO stack and increase your chances to knockdown?

 

I may have to try this with Repulsion field and whirlwind on my /FF 

[SmalltalkJava]

Just  quick reply.   This wasn't on a MM, but on my Elec/Kin Controller.      I used Repel and Whirlwind with the kb->kb IO.  I'm not level 50 but it seemed to work well.    I was able to effect the giant shivan at the end of the DIB, it took a while but it worked.    I'm not sure if they actually stack or just give double the chance to knockdown.  Oh, and the grouped mobs in the DIB are in such nice tight clumps.  They turn to popcorn.  Nice controlled popcorn.  It takes a couple seconds for the effect to kick in.      My next plan is to try on a /FF using Repulsion field, or whatever it is called, and Whirlwind.    I'm thinking bots would work best as they are range.    so you can defensive them and TP right in.  

 

The benefit of doing this on the Elec controller is that you have the sapping field feeding you endurance.   Benefit of being a MM is that you have body guard to eat some damage while you wait for the effect to kick in.

 

I think what i need to research is if there is any way to soft cap defenses and get good resists on a /kin MM.   I don't recall anyone ever posting something like that.  especially taking into account wanting to use  Repel and whirlwind with kb->kd IO's.   You need to have plenty of stamina coming in and good stamina redux.  When push comes to shove, a reliable build has capped or near capped defenses.

 

Overall it was pretty enjoyable.

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by SmalltalkJava