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Just a quick breakdown of the Ninja Mastermind powers.
Currently a level 32 Ninja/Trick Arrow Mastermind
First the MM personal attacks.
I passed on Snap Shot and Fistful of Arrows. I grabbed Aimed shot for pulling/interrupting. Masterminds rely on their pets for damage, as such they do not need a wide variety of attacks. That being said, having an attack for a ninja MM is very useful as your pets prefer melee. This will allow you to pull single enemies out of mobs. I went for Aimed Shot over Snap Shot because they both serve the same purpose and Aimed Shot does more damage.
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First time around I took aimed shot for pulling which was useful, but not so much as I rarely need to pull solo and when grouped others have better skills for this. When I solo I do it on the Malicious setting by siccing all my pets (except the Oni) into the middle of the mobs so that they all melee. I'll explain why further down.
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Now for the pets
All pets have an inherent resist to Confuse and Taunt, as well as a run speed increase.
Genin - Your tier one pet, at 7% base defense they are squishy and don't do overly impressive damage. While invaluable in the lower levels, once I got a full set of minions, I stopped summoning these while in groups. They still make nice damage sponges when solo and have a decent chance to disorient. They start with the ability to use a Thunder Kick and Shuriken.
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Ahh Genin. I lovingly call mine Cannon Fodder, Don Quixote, and Whipping Boy. They are in a team basically an HP buffer. Good for siccing in the middle and absorbing those first few concentrated hits. If they die? Meh, resummon them. The fact they can to KB and Disorient is very handy though. I have them slotted as such: 2 damage, 1 acc, 2 KB, 1 disorient
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Jounin - Your tier two pet, with 14% defense and more hit points, they last a bit longer than Genin. They have very nice damage and excellent 'soft control' powers. This soft control comes in the form of Caltrops (Slow and Fear), Soaring Dragon (Knockup), Golden Dragonfly (Knockdown) and Blinding Powder (Confuse and Sleep). They start with Sting of the Wasp, Gambler's Cut and Caltrops.
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These're the fun pets. Soon as I Got them I noticed I Suddenly had a pet that could tank and destroy and rarely die. Once again you need to force this one to go into melee using the GoTo command for his KB, Placate, Defense DeBuff, ToHit Debuff and Caltrops. Here's my slotting: 1 damage, 1 acc, 1 slow, 1 KB, 1 ToHit Debuff, 1 Defense Debuff
[/ QUOTE ] Oni - Your tier three pet, also with 14% defense as well as 14% resist to Letahl, Smash and Fire and even more hit points than the Jounin. Often a major disappointment to Ninja Masterminds, the Oni is ugly as sin and does only average damage. The Oni's true beauty comes in his ability to control. While not overly impressive even in this aspect, he can greatly aid a patient and wise player. He has Ring of Fire (Immobilize), Char (Hold) and Rain of Fire (Fear). His Fire Blast and Breath are not to be scoffed at with 3 damage SOs, but still the Jounin are the main damage dealers. He starts with Super leap, Fire Sword Slash and Fire Blast.
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This guy Never dies! He's my 'make sure things never hit me' pet. He has mediocre damage in comparison to the Jounin, but since he doesn't die or take as much damage he's less of a liablility: 3 dam, 2 acc, 1 hold
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Smoke Flash
Considered to be one of the Ninja Master's best powers, I actually skipped this one to see how i would do. (Quite well, by the way) This allows you to select any one of your ninjas and make him placate all the enemies around him and be hidden for 10 seconds. This allows all attacks for 10 seconds to critical ( do double damage). Slap 2 recharge reductions on here and you can keep it on someone all the time. With Trick Arrow as a secondary, I am kept pretty busy debuffing, so I don't miss having this too much.
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I've passed onthis, honestly. It doesn't seem that useful to me. My pets are there to take the damage for me and my teammates .. making them shed aggro is a bad thing.
Overall, I love my Ninja! They are a MELEE pet, except for the Oni, so as long as you realize that and make sure to Sic them using GoTo you will never have any issues. They're great for their debuffs/impairment abilities and they do nice damage. Personally, I don't recommend picking up any skills other than the pets and their trainings.
