Crazyfist

All things considered, its not a bad build. Here are some changes I would make. I'll just bullet these out in order as I scan the build.

-Unless you really like the set bonuses, the two bubble powers don't really need to be 6 slotted. I noticed maneuvers was only one slotted. That should be 6 slotted before those bubble powers.

-Four slots should be put in Hell on Earth. The best thing about that power is the fact that it is classified as a temp pet power. Additionally, the dmg bonus is nice. The little baby demons are next to useless themselves. Anyway, four slots, the two +%5 Def and the two +10% Resist enhancements. That is an extra 10% def and 20% resists to every demon. That is ubersauce.

-Thaw is meh. In fact, its less than meh. I would much rather see combat jumping there. Nice defense for you, +immob immun, +KB resist (has to be slotted with the enhancement).

-I noticed that your build lacks Provoke. So you intend on sending pets in and scramble healing. This approach is fine, (I wouldn't recommend it with Demons), if that is what you want to do. I would instead roll in BG mode 24/7, fly right in the middle of the pack with the demons, and provoke everything in sight. Trust me, it works MUCH better. Things die faster, pets live longer, farm gets cleared faster .

-This point is right in line with the above suggestion. I noticed you don't have a patron armor power. Make room for it. Take it. Slot it. Love it. Tankermind for life!

-Tactics is optional. In fact, I find it to be unnessisary, especially with the +Acc you got slotted in those sets. Drop it, pick up either hasten (increase healing power + more demons getting forge = win), or the patron armor.

-Crack whip is also optional. Between healing, taunting, forging, & wrangling demons, you shouldn't really have any time for personal attacks. I know the whip is totally cool, but does it actually decrease your clear times or improve your overall performance as an MM? I think not.

-I like assault. I'm beginning to think you and me are the only two mm's that use it. Most don't these days. Here is my thinking behind it.
6 x (1.1 x DPS) > 6 x DPS. Every time. (But its only 10%?) <-- is the typical argument you see. True, but this 10% becomes significant when your pets consistently throw sizeable numbers, (like demons do).

These are just suggestions friend. Use some, use all, use none, whatever. Good luck demonizing the 3rd world country known as the Rogue Isles!

I think that /dark is the best way to go with mercs. My merc is /dark and it is the perfect set to match with mercs.

All the cc you could ever need. Tack on web grenade and powerup in the 40s, and you got some serious controls. I open up all engagements with this sequence.

Mercs in BG mode > Powerup > Darkest Night (on biggest dude in bunch) > Fear > web grenade > tar patch > All pets attack my target and switch very quickly between mob to mob reissuing that command after every target switch.

By the time you start micromanaging the mercs, half of them are dead. Oh, fluffy (the temp pet) kicks a$$ to.

What you want as a merc mm is to keep sh$t in place and away from you. Dark is superior at that by far. In addition, if you micro manage your mercs for optimum pwnage after the initial portion, they stay right next to you usually. This means that the ridiculously small heal radius of the dark heal will still typically hit all your mercs anyway.

Hey Valon, I took that quiz.

Hey brute community. Long time MM first time Brute.

I obviously have rolled a DM/SR brute. I envisioned a "you can touch this", (MC Hammer pun intended), type character that works through -tohit and high def.

I put together a build of my own, but I don't believe that it is optimal. It would be much better for me to adopt a build suggested by the brute experts.

I just have a few requests for those who choose to post a build.

1. I want to have some semblance of AOE capabilities to go along with the beast mode ST dps that Dark is. (MU i guess?)

2. Softcaps must be reached in all three catagories, (melee, ranged, aoe).

3. Elude looks neat to me, and though some might deem it unnecessary, I still want it as an oh hell button.

Also, I do have some cash because of my 50 MM toons, so don't be afraid to throw some pricey action into the slots.

Thanks

I'll play along too. Is for fun

T1
1. Thugs. Arsonist = funnest pet of all time + AOE MONSTER
2. Zombies. Vomit = Pwn
3. Bots. The seemingly random aiming AOE power is funny+awsome
4. Demons. Solid ST and AOE but king at niether
5. Mercs. When medic isn't behaving badly
6. Ninjas. Affectionatly refered to as speedbumps. Too squishy for me.

T2
1. Bots. Bubbles + Heals + Good DPS = Yes please!
2. Demons. Real good DPS + Heal + Def Aura = ROAR!
3 & 4. Zombies & Ninjas. Best ST DPS. These boys hit HARD!
5. Thugs. Great buffs + good DPS. Solid pets.
6. Mercs. Snipe = Awsome. Other than that, they are chock full of suck.

T3
1. Bots. Assbot Assbot Assbot. That dude is easily top DPS pet. EASILY!!
2. Thugs. Techinically, the bruiser has potential to out DPS Assbot, but he has little AOE and he requires rage to do so. If you sum all the actual numbers put out in a mission, Assbot tops him. But, he is EASILY the best ST DPS pet, and a total badass to boot.
3. Mercs. Not to be underestimated, this dude puts out some serious DPS. Slot him with full Soulbound, and his big hitters hit much more often. Great AOE and ST DPS.
4. Demons. AOE slow, sweet ice sword, great DPS. He has a smattering of controls as well.
5. Zombies. His dps is less than meh, but he controls the scene like a badass.
6. Ninjas. A great pet, but I think the lich is slightly better.

This is just my opinion on a highly subjective thread. In retrospect, and in reviewing my rankings, I must be masochistic because my fav primary is mercs. Gimped MM FTW?

Pain does not have a reg debuff. It has a handy def and res debuff, but that is it. So yes, it does make it harder to solo difficult targets with this set. But look on the brightside, you can heal better than all other sets.

Thermal is great, but like Llinfinity said, it is infact very busy. A lot of people don't play it because they don't like to use thier powers. They whine about bubbling, ect... If this isn't the case with you, I'd definately give it a try.

Don't forget, thermal also has a great aoe debuff and a real nice single target debuff that allows you to solo AVs.

Lastly, I'd say that thermal would work good with any primary. Just ask yourself what type of primary do you want to play? Since your first mm is a bots mm, I would seriously recommend trying either ninja's or necro just to test drive a melee mm. Both work great with thermal, (flaming zombies being my favorite).

I have heard the same. I also heard that a fix had already gone through. Can anyone confirm either for me?

If this is still the case, then I will be 6 slotting the T3 demon with soulbound.

The only reason why one would consider going somewhere else with the set (T2) is if it would be a bigger increase in dps and an overall lowering of mob clearing times. Basically, would the T2 or T3 pet benefit more from having their ability times reduced?

Hey all, I want to get everyone's opinion on the best place to slot a full set of Soulbound in a Demon/Therm.

T3 pet?

T2 pets?

T1 pets?

Break the set up?

I want some opinions on the matter. I really can't quite decide.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What he said.

--side note. For some reason, I won't play a powerset combo that can't solo AV's. I guess that is the bar that any acceptable toon of mine must hurdle, lest they become deleted and forgotten.

Speaking of, Demo/Therm is definately a combo that can, (and does in my case) solo AV's.--

Mercs seem to be a soldierish type of set.

The MM calls into base to get reinforcements and the big upgrade.

The Commando arrives in a parachute, obviously after being ejected from a plane.

Thematically, it makes sense. Why can't the MM special power be a really nice dps power?

I'm just trying to come up with ideas here. Because Serum SUCKS!!!! Worst of all, the big dps boost is somthing like 7%. Good lord that is sh$t. The dps buffs in both the pain and thermal trees are much better, with much better recharge times. Sure Serum gives some resistance buffs and such, but who gives a damn! It is craptasticly horrible. Laughable at best. And also on a 16 min recharge!!

I swear, when the powers that be sat down and designed Serum, they must of had the objective of creating the most worthless power in the game.

Not done yet... When cast, you throw your merc a shot of dope that gives them a crappy high followed by a huge drug induced crash. Really!?! Seriously!?! ALL the other special set powers in the other primaries are far superior.

Sorry for the rant. I just really want to see this joke of a power changed.

Here is an idea I got while thinking about the punchy pets AI problem. What about a set of creatures that don't even have the ability to melee at all?
I'm not going to try to create individual power ideas for the set other than the pets.

Primary:
Beholder Summoning

T1 pets
Summon Eyeballs
3 smaller floating beholders that each inflict an array of different ranged dmg types.

T2 pets
Summon Gauth
2 larger floating beholders that have the capability to do even greater amounts of dmg in an array of dmg types

T3 pet
Summon Overseer
1 Huge floating beholder that is extremely powerful. This entity also has access to an array of different dmg types. Additionally, the Overseer would have a cone fear power.

I picture these pets as being strictly ranged each being progressively better at debuffing. Additionally, in the lore, it suggests that beholders can cast all different types of spells. That is why I think they should be able to inflict "an array of dmg types". They would do everything from fire to electric to cold to negative to toxic.

What do you think?

I'm casting my vote for /thermal with the demons. I have three main reasons for this.

1. More survivable with the fire shields and a FAR AND AWAY superior heal. The radius of the dark heal is a source of extreme annoyance for me. Its just pitiful in my opinion. The thermal heal has a huge radius and comes up quicker. In BG mode your demons are going to be spread out in an area that is much wider than the dark heal can handle. You'll find yourself running close to the demon that needs healed in order to get that guy in the radius. Other than the extremely small heal radius of dark, its an outstanding set though.

2. The two end set debuffs are bada$$!

3. Forge is f'in sweet! Forge + hasten = lots of smiling demons hitting very hard

Yea Fitz is right. You find yourself chewing breakys constantly.

Provoke is a cornerstone of all good tankermind builds. As a tankermind, you WANT all guns/bad sh*t pointed at you.

While in BG mode, the dmg you recieve is basically split 7 ways between you and all your pets. It greatly increases your survivability and enables you to tank dang near anything. But, if a mob turns around and punches one of your baby demons in the face, they get hit with the full dmg and eat it individually. Which is bad obviously.

So, what you want to do is stay in BG and taunt all mobs around you while spaming the dark heal. Also don't forget about all the really great crowd control tools that dark has.

Working toward the softcaps also helps alot for tankerminds. If the dmg is being split between all the pets, then each pet's individual resists/mitigation factors into how much of the entire amount is mitigated.

*Walks over and punts dead horse*

My favorite primary is Mercs, so I would love to see some buff love come thier way.

First of all, like everyone says, Serum is complete and utter sh*t.
I really like the dig in temp buff that was suggested above. I also like the idea of somthing similar to what the Thugs have. They could call in a quick reactionary force or something. The sets that have recharge intensive pets carry an inherant advantage being able to slot those extra passives. My other idea is that the mm would pull out that slow a$$ animation radio of his when the power is cast and call in an air strike. It would be a targeted AoE that does big dps on a relatively quick recharge. That would be very soldierish and would be a good burst in AoE dps for the set in general.

Also, nothing is more annoying than being in a group with a bots mm and watching the a$$bot fire off rockets every freaking pull. We get 4 minutes on our big rocket. 4 MINS! Thats f'in rediculous!!! For the love of all thats holy, lower the recharge on all our big hitters. This would make a big impact on merc dps. Also, since we do the dmg types that are the most mitigated/resisted, then up the base dmg for all the powers. All accross the board. Why the hell not! It only makes sense. They aren't going to give mercs the ability to do sweet energy dmg (like bots) or elementalish dmg (demons) we are stuck with lethal. Up the base dmg on all lethal dmg attacks by around 25%. That would be great.

Rant over.

I have a Merc/Dark that is one of my favorite toons. This Rocky Marciano AI behavior is present in all of the sets, its just much more annoying in the mercs and bots sets because they are supposed to be strictly ranged.

As far as I know, you can't shut off thier punch ability. All you can do is wrangle them as best as you can. Also, I recommend taking a blasterminder approach with mercs. Individually, thier dps isn't that good (xcept for the commando's occasional flashes of brilliance). If you keep all six guns pointing in the same direction at all times though, things move much faster. This of course means you can't stomp around in BG mode but it doesn't matter. Difficult stuff can still be solod, it just takes more strategy and active playing. My secondary is /dark though, which is phenominal with mercs because of the controlliness.

I got side tracked there. What were we talking about? Oh yea, merc punches... nope can't do sh*t about it really cept pull em back over and over.

It never even occured to me that I should try to keep my demons at range. I always saw them as a set that needs to be in the mix romping and stomping. Thats exactly what I do. Demo/Therm is a beast combo if your not the type that whines about bubbling. Buff everything up > charge in BG mode > spam provoke and warmth > watch the bodies hit the floor. DPS is great too man. Take the chaosminder approach bro, you won't regret it.