A good primary for /kinetics?

[ParaBruce]

I have this problem: I keep telling myself that I'd like to make some characters of other archetypes, and I keep ending up making more masterminds. 🙂 Well, I would like a kineticist, and I've realized that if I want a fighting chance of getting anywhere with it, I should make it as a /kinetics MM. So, do folks have recommendations for/against particular primaries for the purpose?

 

[SmalltalkJava]

with kinetics.  It lacks good defense/resists for the pets.   It is also centered in melee range with its abilities.  I used mine with Beasts, it works ok once you get some pack built up and can cast the defense buff ability on beasts.  But when you do that they lose their crit effect.  On the other hand, they become single target chainsaws of death.  However, i suggest that you might try Demons.  Demons come with +15% base buff resists from the second tier demons to a lot of damage types.  This will help their survival.  In another thread someone mentioned using Bots also, bots come with built in +def shields, and the person even posted how to play it effectively with kin: 

 

My suggestion is to focus on getting soft capped defenses for yourself, however, you plan on doing it. Start there.  Bots will give you a leg up with the protector bots shield.  Additionally, Mids was just updated in the latest patch build to show how much +def the protector bots give the MM. So it will help with your build planning.

 

What i like about my beast/kin is that i have plenty of time to use the 3 MM damage attacks.    That would apply to any primary though.   Demons attacks will put -res on the enemies so the demons will attack that much harder.     

 

 

 

[Redlynne]

2 hours ago, ParaBruce said:

I should make it as a /kinetics MM. So, do folks have recommendations for/against particular primaries for the purpose?

Kinetics ... suffers ... on Masterminds, simply because a lot of what it does isn't "useful enough" for how Masterminds work.  Kinetics doesn't "do" a whole lot for you in terms of survival of your Pets, leaving them somewhat lacking in support, relative to other options.  A substantial part of this is the fact that a lot (not all, granted, but a lot) of Kinetics relies on either speeding up allies (making them "go faster") while slowing down enemies (making them "go slower") while buffing yourself and debuffing them.  The disconnect comes into play with Masterminds since your Pets get absolutely NOTHING out of recharge buffing, which Kinetics does a lot of.

 

The real dividing line with Kinetics then becomes ... melee versus ranged ... or "near versus far" engagement patterns.

 

While Kinetics can be played "from afar" you'll lose out on a lot of what it can do for you (Transfusion, Transference, Fulcrum Shift, etc.), because if you're engaging from far away there are Kinetics effects that happen "away from you" that you won't be gaining any advantage from.

 

Conversely, if you're playing Kinetics "up close" as a Mastermind, you'll need to have Pets that can substantially support themselves (presumably with Def/Res Pet Aura IOs slotted into powers) and/or cast buffs on themselves to cover this gap in support from your secondary, since Kinetics does next to nothing in this regard.  In this case, I'd argue STRONGLY AGAINST ever trying Ninjas for this, simply because they are far too wimptacular on Defense to protect themselves from their own rapid fire stupidity (and they "fold" like pre-creased origami rice paper, in other words, "hurriedly").

 

As mentioned above, you might be able to get away with Beast/Kinetics, whereas I'd have absolutely no hopes at all for Ninja/Kinetics, since the Ninjas are just far too flimsy without support from your secondary powerset (and I mean A LOT of support!).  Beasts at least buff each other such that with enough slotting you'd be able to push their Defenses towards the softcap, while Ninjas would just be looking at a yawning chasm named FAILURE.

 

Bots, Demons and Thugs would make for peculiar alternatives, but you would have to get used to playing them "close, rather than far" in order to get the most out of Kinetics with them.  Mercs would probably be about as bad of a mix with Kinetics as Ninjas.

 

Of course, if you want play something REALLY different ... you could always go Illusion/Kinetics as a Controller, and have a lot more success with the combo than any Mastermind could with Kinetics.

[SmalltalkJava]

I agree with RedLynne.  Additionally for a pet based controller option do electric/kin.  You get gremlins that go apeshit insane with kin biffs. And you can lock a spawn down with the confuse then wade in do the FS and melt things.

 

im not sure how it would work in being able to soft cap your defenses. But heat mastery has bonfire. Which you could use as CC then go in with the MM pets FS and kill stuff. 

 

Just stay away from ninjas kin.

 

- edit-  just realized that i had a thread created when i was working on my beast/kin.  Read this for a starting point.   

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by SmalltalkJava

[Redlynne]

20 minutes ago, SmalltalkJava said:

I agree with RedLynne.

I'm always amused by seeing how other people (mis)spell my name.

A capital L in the middle for the lowercase l ...

Dropping the letter e off the end ...

And just in case there's any questions, it's supposed to be pronounced/spoke as if you were saying "Red Line" ... but since that spelling (or any of the variations on it) weren't available in Issue 2 when I started (and I didn't want to resort to l33t sp34k to get the name I wanted) I settled upon Redlynne as a distinctive alternative spelling.  And ... it's been messing people up ever since.  My bad.

 

20 minutes ago, SmalltalkJava said:

Additionally for a pet based controller option do electric/kin.  You get gremlins that go apeshit insane with kin biffs. And you can lock a spawn down with the confuse then wade in do the FS and melt things.

Great ... yet ANOTHER project I'm going to have to explore now ... 😅

Edited August 30, 2019 by Redlynne

[ParaBruce]

Thank you, folks! Good fodder for thought.

 

[SmalltalkJava]

23 minutes ago, Redlynne said:

I'm always amused by seeing how other people (mis)spell my name.

A capital L in the middle for the lowercase l ...

Dropping the letter e off the end ...

And just in case there's any questions, it's supposed to be pronounced/spoke as if you were saying "Red Line" ... but since that spelling (or any of the variations on it) weren't available in Issue 2 when I started (and I didn't want to resort to l33t sp34k to get the name I wanted) I settled upon Redlynne as a distinctive alternative spelling.  And ... it's been messing people up ever since.  My bad.

 

Great ... yet ANOTHER project I'm going to have to explore now ... 😅

Yeah, its pretty sweet.  And then when you combine it with a proc'd out Jolting Chain that does knockdown on a low recharge.   General game content gets a little too easy.

 

Ps. now that I know how to pronounce your name RedLinnye RedLynie, Radlime, RedHynie, Ricardo Montalbán,  err Redlynne.  I'll have to retrain my brain.  I always pronounced it Red Lin.