EricHough
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Quote:Originally Posted by Luminara
Defenders have 0.125 mods across the board, Ranged and Melee, for -Dam, -Res, -Def and -ToHit. Controllers use 0.100 mods for all of those. Masterminds only share controller values for Melee -ToHit, -Dam and -Def, the rest of the listed debuffs sit at 0.075.Quote:MMs also share RES/DEF debuff values.
In no case is a mastermind's debuff potential comparable to that of a defender, and in only a few cases is it even as high as that of controllers.
I think the confusion is because of a couple of powers that break the rules: Tar patch from dark miasma, which shares the same -res values for all 3 AT's that have it (defender, corruptor and MM) and acid mortar which at least for corruptors and masterminds also has the same resistance and def debuff values. In both cases I would guess the similarity is due to the power summoning a pseudo-pet. The interesting thing is that when traps was ported to defenders they changed the pseudo-pet so that it had defender level debuffs.
Mind you, I certainly am not going to complain about allowing corruptors and masterminds to get defender level values with tar patch but I can see how that would make folks think that the 3 AT had the same res/def debuff mods. -
Quote:My problem is not that its JUST a -40% to hit and def debuff but that it lasts for a minute - in a timed mission (15 mins) that means if I get unlucky and don't kill the ghost fast enough or if I don't have a character that can kill a ghost before he drops the flash grenade on me I have to stand around for a minute waiting for the debuff to go away. If they lasted a reasonable amount of time (what, 20 seconds maybe?) I could live with them - I still wouldn't like them but at least I would regard them as a challenge to be dealt with rather than something that makes me want to give up on mayhem missions because I can't stand sitting round waiting for effects to fade.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
On the one hand, I don't run into these guys very often. On the other, I did state that I kill them first. If I don't have enough yellows to at least get me hitting a third of the time or so (which doesn't take much) then I'll bolt until the debuff drops.
It's not rocket surgery.
You know - I never really bought into the usual "the dev's hate villain's" tinfoil hat stuff but lately mayhem missions have been making me wonder about that. Between the PPD ghosts and equalizers, the constant ambushes by large groups of longbow and the fact that since i16 the ambushes have been even LARGER than normal I am starting to wonder.
Case in point - I was doing a steel canyon bank job on my mid teens ice/thorn dominator, taking my time moving towards the bank as usual so I could watch for ambushes and not get to many. I go a slightly different route than usual (back way to the bank instead of the main street where the smash and grab key placeholder usually sits) and see none of the usual longbow ambush chatter. I get into the bank, see the usual ambush message and think things are going well. Then I get hit by 6 longbow minions and 2 LT's. I am running this mayhem solo with my settings on base level (+0 x0) with everything turned off (no bosses, no av's, etc) - why am I getting triple sized ambushes?
Mind you - I am seeing larger ambushes hero side as well. I was starting out a low level blaster (7 or 8) and took one of the hunt skull missions from a kings row contact and while I was hunting skulls I was hit by the mid hunt ambush: 1 LT, 6 minions. Fortunately I could run away without it being a problem - but this is insane for a solo low level character.
To get back on topic - I think the debuff values that PPD and Longbow do are insane and way over the top but as I said, I could cope with that if the duration was just for 1 fight instead of 2-3. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Coldcrash
I probably won't be rolling a DP character...
... unless Corruptors get Poison. OMG.
That would be pretty awesome. I won't touch poison as a mastermind mostly because I find it TOO single target focused but I would kill for it as a corruptor. I would drop my plans for a DP/Dark or DP/Traps in an instance if I could have DP/Poison. -
Quote:Trick Arrow does 2 things well - prevent mobs from closing to melee (glue arrow, entangling arrow and ice arrow) and increase your damage output (disruption arrow and acid arrow). The problem is that it doesn't really do anything else well, at least until you get oil slick arrow. TA does almost nothing to reduce the damage from ranged attacks - there is a little damage debuff in poison gas arrow, but even the defender numbers are not all that high (31%), especially without any other 'defensive' debuffs like to hit debuffs. The numbers for controllers/corruptors are even worse (20%). The to hit debuff in flash arrow is nice when you can stack it against AV - but in normal play it really isn't enough to make much of a difference. The sleep in PGA is far to short and unreliable - in a group it will get broken the second someone uses an AE damage power, solo it just doesn't sleep things long enough to help much.Originally Posted by kokuryu_EU
Just out of interest, where do people think there is a lack of mitigation? What moments on TFs etc?
What this means is that with enemies that do heavy ranged damage, like council or rikti, you are going to eat all thier damage until you kill them. Until you get to oil slick arrow with it's knockdown you don't really have any other mitigation that works on ranged enemies. This isn't a big deal for controllers as almost all controllers have a lot of mitigation in their primary but for corruptors at least it is a real problem (never tried a TA defender so I won't speak to them). While the resistance debuff numbers the set puts out are nice they are not that much better than other sets (40% total from TA vs 30% from most sets for defenders) and as trickshooter pointed out, difficult to apply as acid arrow has a tiny area and disruption arrow affects only 10 targets.
Even OSL, as nice as it is, has it's problems. Between various bugs that prevent the slick from lighting, the fact that only certain powers ignite it (one of my pet peeves) and various bugs with pets the power is somewhat problematic. I love it on my plant/ta controller but it helps that my pet likes to stay at range. Even there since I didn't go with the two origins that get powers that ignite the slick I have to rely on temp powers until I get my epic pool.
Those are pretty much my feelings currently. I love the set on controllers and want so much to play it on corruptors but after getting my archery/ta corruptor to 21 and still getting completely shredded on council paper missions set at base level I gave up on it. I will continue to play my plant/ta controller and my mind/ta controller but currently I am sticking with traps for my archery corruptor (and my 1 defender - I like traps defenders a lot). -
Quote:If you are going hurdle+superspeed I think combat jumping will be a big win. The extra jump height + the maneuverability is hard to beat, add in the fact that it gives you nearly as good immobilization protection as most brutes have and you can slot a karma -KB in there if you don't have the LOTG and its my favorite pool power. The other powers are all pretty situational - the single target immobilize could be usefull for locking down bosses/EB's/AV's as you can stack it pretty fast but if you do take it I wouldn't slot it up for damage, just use it as an emergency control. Keep in mind that crush does NOT prevent knockback/up - none of gravities immobilizes have -KB in them, only the holds, so if you take crush it is fairly safe to use.Originally Posted by MinMin
I think you've convinced me to give Lift some love. When I respec out Propel I'll throw its slots here. The thing that has been keeping me from using Lift is I absolutely loathe the delayed damage, but I can't argue with the maths. It appears to be an excellent attack.
I am curious as to what power I'm going to replace Propel with. So far it's out of these options:
1. Combat Jumping - Spot for a LotG IO as well as combining well with Hurdle and Supersped mobility-wise. Also really good when out of Domination given that the majority of my damage is melee-based.
2. Crush - I'm a fan of ST Immobs, but I question the need given the sheer amount of knockdown I can lay out. The damage is the same as Stone Spears, but the big difference is that I have to take that.
3. Crushing Field - There's all sorts of subtle synergies and situational uses for an AoE Immob, but IMO most of them are highly overrated and smack of desperate justification of a horrible power choice. If I took this it would be an effort to test my opinion.
4. Dimension Shift - You never know, I might develop a strong misanthropic streak. -
For all of those pointing out how much redraw is in traps I have to re-iterate that most trap laying is done at the beginning of combat - so the actual redraw when it matters is going to be fairly low. You lay down your caltrops, drop an acid mortar then open fire - or you summon your seeker drones to absorb the alpha, drop caltrops, and so on. FFG has a long enough duration that with a little care you should never need to summon it in the middle of combat - barring an AV fight or something similar. Web grenade is about the only power that sees a lot of use in the middle of combat and any other secondary that has a single target immobilize or hold (dark say) is going to invoke as much redraw.
I have played traps on a mastermind to the high 30's and on a corruptor to the mid 20's (so far - still working on my archery/traps corruptor) and while the mastermind doesn't care about redraw (although she IS a thugs/traps MM - so she does have dual pistols sorta :-) the corruptor doesn't have that much of a problem with it either. So if you want to do a low redraw corruptor I would suggest rad, traps or dark - all of them should be fairly decent. -
Quote:Well, you would have to play a defender to go with a forcefield dual pistol character as corruptors don't get FF currently but that would probably be the least redraw. Traps is actually pretty good on redraw as well, most of the powers you set up right at the beginning of combat or outside of it with the exception being web grenade.Originally Posted by Frosticus
What do you guys think would be the best pairing for DP that would minimize redraw? (this would extent to arch and AR too I suppose).
I guess I should mention "without skipping key powers". I was considering /sonic, but not spamming sonic siphon is a no go. Probably forcefield?
Actually any set with toggles that you set outside of combat or at the beginning of combat is going to minimize redraw as well - radiation for example: you open with RI and EF, then pull out your pistols and start shooting. Unless you need to heal you aren't going to use anything in the middle of combat, just at the beginning. -
Quote:Don't neglect lift - like several other powers in dominator primaries after the last round of buffs its more a damaging power that also has control than it is a control power. Mesmerize is also this way now, just like lift. You were saying that you felt that stone spears was a ranged air superiority? Well, that is EXACTLY what lift is now - except it does more damage than AS. It has 100% chance of knockup where stone spears only has 80% chance. If you haven't slotted it for damage I would highly recommend it. Lift also has a very fast cast time for a 6 second recharge attack.Originally Posted by MinMin
You got it in one. My other ranged attacks are Hurl Boulder and Propel plus the two veteran staffs ... Stone Spears is lightning in comparison. I guess I could use Lift more but I think of it more as a control.
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Quote:Actually I think there are TWO problems here - the one Invincible_Ninja mentioned and the one you are talking about, I have actually seen both. The problem you brought up above is specific to zoning - when you leave a mission map (click on the exit or the exit button) or enter another zone one or more of your pets will not show up in the pet window. In this bug your pets follow you properly but don't respond to pet commands. I have found that zoning somewhere else (into a new mission or into another zone such as oroborous) fixes the issue, although the targeted buff trick also sounds good.Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
That is an interface problem I understand; you can't control them or see them in the pet window, but they still count for things like Supremacy and Bodyguard. The workaround is to use a targeted buff by clicking directly on the pet; a targeted heal, a shield, one of the upgrades; etc. That gives you control of the pet again.
However, the problem invincible mentioned happens when you are in a mission map and you use an elevator to go to another 'floor'. Your pets still show up properly in your pet window but they don't all 'exit' the elevator properly - they appear to be drifting freely around the map as if they have become dis-joined from the map or something. So far the only way I have resolved this issue is to dismiss and re-summon them (which makes it clear that this different from the first bug as you can't dismiss the pets that don't show up in your pet window or issue any pet commands to them). I have tried using a team teleport power to resolve this issue to no effect although I haven't tried the targeted buff trick, although these two bugs look different enough I suspect it wouldn't work.
EDIT: Hit post to soon so corrected some spelling errors and finished post. -
Quote:I am trying to figure out how stone spears animation could be considered fast in any way - it may FEEL fast, compared to other attacks in earth assault but it is pretty much the slowest tier 1 in all the dominator sets:Originally Posted by MinMin
That being said, if you read further into the journal, I actually changed my mind about Stone Spears. With its fast animation and high chance of knockdown I've been treating it as a ranged Air Superiority and it works well in that role. In fact, I'd go on to say that IMO it is the most useful of the tier 1s for exactly this reason.
Stone Spears: 2.1 sec, 52.83 dam, 25.16 dpa
Charged Bolts, Power bolt, Ice bolt: 1 sec, 52,83 dam, 52,83 dpa
Flares: 1sec, 46, damage, 46 dpa
Psi Dart: 1.33 sec, 44.38 dam, 33.47 dpa
Thorny Darts: 1.33 sec, 50.62 dam, 38.06 dpa
I used the in game numbers with the level bar set to 50. Stone spears clearly comes in dead last for DPA, although its overall damage is even with all the other 4 second recharge attacks.
Don't get me wrong - I actually love the stone spears animation. I preferred the ground stomp version they first used in beta however the ground smash version is pretty cool as well - but from a pure damage standpoint its the worst tier 1 in the game. The knockdown is fairly nice and I agree with you on its utility - that combined with the cool animation would make it worth keeping as part of an attack chain but I might not use it all the time, especially if i could get a good chain going with the 2 mallets and seismic smash, as they are clearly the gems of the set. -
Quote:I don't normally jump on people over reading comprehension but the very next sentance in my post made exactly the same point you did about controller pets:Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
Nitpick: unless you are a post-32 Controller. Or, eventually, a Mastermind when they get /sonic.Quote:Originally Posted by EricHough 
On the other hand, you can't even USE disruption field solo -
Hmm. Now there would be a use for running Sonic Disruption & Repulsion at the same time; Disruption on the Bruiser, Repulsion on the suicidal arsonist...at least keep the guys he insists on running up to out of melee.
I do agree that sonic will be awesome for MM's, assuming the don't butcher it in the fear that it will be TOO good. I was sorry they ported thermal before sonic - Thermal is far to much like pain domination and I was hoping for something a little different.Quote:On the other hand, you can't even USE disruption field solo - where EF can be used whether in a group or solo. I would tend to consider the ally vs enemy toggle nature of the two powers a wash at best. For those of us who solo a lot disruption field is almost a total loss, unless you are a controller with a pet to use as an anchor and even then isn't very usefull until L32. I would say that lowering the end cost (or adding in the -dam just like EF) would be reasonable for this power at least.
From a personal standpoint as much as I would like to play a /sonic controller I probably never will - I solo to much and you basically get 2 useful solo powers before L32 (sonic siphon and sonic dispersion) and 4 really useful solo powers out of the entire set (assuming you put disruption field on your pet AND it goes into melee often). Oddly enough I suspect I would play a FF controller long before a sonic - it at least offers a lot of personal protection to a controller even if it lacks the usual resistance debuff powers that help controllers out so much and repulsion bomb offers some nice AE damage you can't get out of sonic. -
Quote:On the other hand, you can't even USE disruption field solo - where EF can be used whether in a group or solo. I would tend to consider the ally vs enemy toggle nature of the two powers a wash at best. For those of us who solo a lot disruption field is almost a total loss, unless you are a controller with a pet to use as an anchor and even then isn't very usefull until L32. I would say that lowering the end cost (or adding in the -dam just like EF) would be reasonable for this power at least.Originally Posted by StratoNexus
I find it advantageous to not have to re-toggle it every spawn (which means it actually uses more endurance than EF, since EF shuts off a lot, whereas SD (hopefully) does not).
As for the other toggles I would think that sonic dispersion probably has an appropriate end cost as its basically the resistance version of dispersion bubble. You could argue that the resistance it grants isn't equivalent to the def granted by dispersion bubble but that has always been hard to figure - the old 1% def = 2% resistance rule is more honored in how often it is broken than how often it is followed. Sonic repulsion is even harder to figure - it is basically the same power as repulsion field but it costs 50% more basic EPS and 250% more end for each target repelled. I guess the dev's think that the ability to use it on an ally is more valuable than the ability to use it on yourself. I can't really decide one way or the other on that myself. Much like repulsion field I bet it is difficult to use correctly so the actual end cost is probably somewhat moot as I suspect neither sonic repulsion or repulsion field is used constantly like the other toggles. -
I would love any or all of the changes trickshooter suggested. While I have long been a fan of TA for controllers that is mostly due to the fact that a controller tends to have enough mitigation in thier primary that the lack of decent ranged damage mitigation in the secondary (prior to L35 at least) didn't hurt. That and the fact that the extra control in TA works very well when stacked with a controllers primary.
While I haven't played TA on defenders, mostly because I can't play defenders (they solo far to painfully for me to be able to stand them) I have tried it on a corruptor - leveling an archery/TA side by side with a similar archery/traps and the difference was like night and day. Oh, at lower levels my A/TA corruptor was ok as long as he stayed away from anything that did significant ranged damage, glue arrow + entangling arrow works fairly well to prevent enemies from closing to melee. But Council and CoT with all thier ranged attacks and resistance to immobilizes (spectral's) just slaughtered my TA corruptor. While my traps corruptor had some problems with them getting acid mortar at 10 and FFG at 16 made a huge difference and the -recharge in web grenade demonstrated just how bad the -recharge in TA was (That ONE power in traps has as more -recharge than 3 powers in TA)
I ended up abandoning my archery/TA at 21 as acid arrow, while very nice, did not up my kill speed enough that I could handle a simple council paper mission without ending up nearly dead after every other group of minions. Poison gas arrow was nearly useless - the damage reduction was not noticable and the sleep, while it helped some, was not enough (it was basically the sleep that let me get though 2 groups before having to rest/stand around and let my health regen). I just didn't have the patience to push on to see if disruption arrow made up the difference. While the set is probably very solid once you get OSL level 35 is way to long for me to wait for a decent soloer.
So, I heartily approve of all trickshooters suggestions - even half of them would improve the set greatly.
EDIT: looking back at things I have to agree with rush bolt - you could leave glue arrow alone, it actually has a decent amount of -recharge (not great but decent) and it's primary purpose, to prevent melee enemies from reaching you, is better with the 90% speed debuff. Upping the -recharge in entangling arrow and ice arrow would probably be more than enough. -
Quote:I have noticed that my wolf spider hunstman, who went with the bane tree but mostly sticks with the SMG based attacks is fairly fast at drawing his SMG. Pulling out the mace for the one or two powers he has that uses it (build up and poisonous ray) is a serious slow down but switching from the mace to the SMG is fast - I don't even notice it. Hopefully the pistols redraw will be more like the huntsman's SMG than the old broadsword or archery redraw.Originally Posted by Frosticus
This is my feeling too. The amount of redraw on my BS/shield has worn me down and it is a fraction of what any DP combo would experience. I've repeatedly tried archery blasters and they just end up frustrating me it is so clunky feeling. I know the bane I'm building will end up pretty bad in that regard, but I'm hopeful the performance it produces will override that.
Probably no Dual Pistols for me unless the performance is extraordinary enough to compensate.
As for my dual pistols character I already reserverd the name Midnight Gunslinger on the server I play my villains - not sure if I want to go DP/Dark or DP/Traps though as I like both secondaries. Dark fits the name but traps is a better thematic fit with pistols. -
Quote:Honestly, if there is anything in the game that prevents a gun toting character from looking like a cowboy its not the animations in the new set as much as it is the weapon choices. If you check out the current weapon choices for a thug MM there really isn't anything that looks like a 19th century revolver - the current revolver looks like a snub nosed 38 and the magnum revolver looks like a dirty harry 44 magnum.Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
my recurring character Tomb Fisted Kid is an undead cowboy
I've had him as an ice/nrg blaster and a dm/wp scrapper
but dual pistols would be best for him and what I've always wanted him to have - if it looked like a cowboy
Rather than whine about the animations, I would be clamoring for more weapon choices. I bet it is cheaper from a resource standpoint to add in more weapon choices than it is to design multiple animations, especially since there is no way to know if they will get the alternate animations exactly the way you want anyway. The dev team has already demonstrated a willingness to add in more weapon choices to weapon sets in the past so it strikes me as a better bet than attacking the animations. -
Quote:They do stack, however none of the regular MM pet powers can slot the recharge intensive pet sets - only a few MM powers can slot them. Gang war and Soul Extraction in MM primaries and Tornado in storm summoning are pretty much the only ones I think can slot the RiP sets. I would have thought that dark servant would be able to as its a recharge based pet but unless the current Mids is incorrect it cannot.Originally Posted by Dz131
do auras stack?
Say if I have edict of the master and call to arms on 2 different pets do they stack?
Personally I find it shoddy design that only a few MM's can slot these incredibly valuable IO's. In my book either ALL of them should be able to or none of them should, but the last time I brought this up I was shouted down by the forumites - probably because they feared the dev's would go for the second option, not the first, so I can't say I blame them too much. However, I still think the dev's screwed up here. -
Quote:
Originally Posted by JDub
I wish their was a Blaster secondary that gave a little more survivability instead of more damage.I have also found devices to add a lot of survivability - caltrops + trip mine at your feet means that mobs do not close very much (those that do get blown back) and cloaking devices + any other stealth gives you full invis, which lets you get close for to bombing, firing off cones, etc. Also, CD provides a nice start for building up ranged def with IO's. My personal experience is that devices provides a little more survivability than ice - but at a definite cost since you lose build up.Quote:Originally Posted by Aisynia
It's called Ice Manipulation. -
That looks like a pretty sweet build - now you just have to gather all the IO's
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The only thing I would suggest is the following slotting in provoke:
Level 24: Provoke -- Mocking-Acc/Rchg(A), Zinger-Acc/Rchg(25), Taunt-I(34)
This gives you plenty of accuracy when combined with your global accuracy and a decent amount of recharge and taunt duration boost. -
This build gives you 46.6% ranged def. Not sure how practical it is otherwise. All i have slotted up with IO's are the powers that I could fit IO sets in to get ranged def. I tried to slot other powers up enough to make them usable but a couple fell by the wayside in order to free up slots for ranged def bonuses - specifically darkest night. I took dark embrace solely as a place to slot the Steadfast prot +3% def IO, you could substitute any of the resistance based armors in the patron pools. I did not slot the PvP IO that gives you +def but if you can afford something like that you could drop any one of the 6 slotted powers for it instead.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Flares -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- Empty(A), Empty(45), Empty(45)
Level 6: Rain of Fire -- Empty(A), Empty(13), Empty(13), Empty(15), Empty(15)
Level 8: Darkest Night -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Fire Ball -- Empty(A), Empty(17), Empty(17), Empty(19), Empty(19)
Level 12: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 18: Blaze -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(21), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(25), Empty(25)
Level 22: Fearsome Stare -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(27), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(27), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Cloud-%Dam(46)
Level 24: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 26: Shadow Fall -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(29), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def(31), RedFtn-EndRdx(33)
Level 28: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Fire Breath -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 32: Inferno -- Empty(A), Empty(34), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(36)
Level 35: Petrifying Gaze -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(37), Lock-Rchg/Hold(37), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), Lock-%Hold(39)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(39), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(40), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Cloud-%Dam(48)
Level 41: Maneuvers -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(42), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def(43), RedFtn-EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Tactics -- Empty(A), Empty(46), Empty(46)
Level 47: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 49: Soul Drain -- Empty(A), Empty(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge
------------
Set Bonus Totals:- 7% DamageBuff(Smashing)
- 7% DamageBuff(Lethal)
- 7% DamageBuff(Fire)
- 7% DamageBuff(Cold)
- 7% DamageBuff(Energy)
- 7% DamageBuff(Negative)
- 7% DamageBuff(Toxic)
- 7% DamageBuff(Psionic)
- 3% Defense(Smashing)
- 3% Defense(Lethal)
- 4.25% Defense(Fire)
- 4.25% Defense(Cold)
- 25.5% Defense(Energy)
- 25.5% Defense(Negative)
- 3% Defense(Psionic)
- 3% Defense(Melee)
- 36.8% Defense(Ranged)
- 5.5% Defense(AoE)
- 4.5% Max End
- 22.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
- 2.5% Enhancement(Held)
- 21% Enhancement(Accuracy)
- 22% FlySpeed
- 22% JumpHeight
- 22% JumpSpeed
- MezResist(Confused) 5%
- MezResist(Held) 7.2%
- MezResist(Immobilize) 9.4%
- MezResist(Sleep) 5%
- MezResist(Stun) 5%
- MezResist(Terrorized) 5%
- 6% (0.1 End/sec) Recovery
- 2.52% Resistance(Fire)
- 2.52% Resistance(Cold)
- 22% RunSpeed
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I don't have any L50 masterminds so I can't really comment on how good a final build that will be. I would suggest that putting full pet IO sets in the pets may be kind of a waste. The problem here is the pets don't really get any benefits from IO set bonuses so putting together full sets on a mastermind doesn't buy you much as many of the bonuses don't help.
Some specific suggestions:
1) Provoke and anguishing cry both need to hit to be effective and you have slotted no accuracy enhancements and only have 15% global accuracy. You need to change some of the IO sets to give you more accuracy or slot some accuracy in those powers, the second option probably being the best. Anguishing cry can take accurate to hit debuff sets - those might be better choice than Touch of lady Grey
2) Slot more damage in pets, less end. You want to cap their damage as much as possible and get about 60% or better accuracy. Some end reduction is nice as some of the pets can burn through end fast but you don't need as much as you have. As I noted above you don't really need to slot full IO sets in the pets - frankenslot them from different IO sets if that works.
3) I would want more recharge in world of pain - the less time it is down, the better. The same probably goes for anguishing cry - the difference between a 22% defense debuff and a 37% defense debuff is probably not going to matter except for an AV fight and possibly not even then - once you have capped your to hit extra doesn't buy you anything so slotting more for recharge and less for def debuff would be good.
4) replace the doctored wounds recharge IO in suppress pain with the heal/end - you want to cap heal and end in this power and recharge doesn't matter much if at all since its a toggle. I would actually do the same with your other 3 heals - recharge is on diminishing returns and you have sufficient global recharge that you don't need to cap the recharge in a power with and 8 second base recharge(Nullify pain), let alone one with a 4 second base(soothe)
5) You definitely want to slot the +resistance aura IO's from the Sovereign right set and the expedient reinforcement set. The first can go in any of your pets, the second only in soul extraction. I would just slot both in soul extration and then slot generic recharge IO's in it to cap recharge so its up as often as possible.
6) Grave knights can benefit from both a touch of lady grey negative energy proc and an achilles heel -resistance proc. The ToLG would have a chance to fire off for all their ranged attacks and the Achilles Heel on all of their melee attacks.
7) Lich is more of a controller than a damage dealer - not sure of the best slotting for him as I am still trying to figure it out myself but slotting some hold or immobilize duration might be usefull.
8) Drop the recharge in dark empowerment and enchant undead - you want to slot 1-2 end reductions but the recharge is a waste as you only need to cast each of them once when you summon your pets, they affect all pets now.
In general masterminds benefit most from IO bonuses that boost HP, regen, recovery and recharge. If your secondary gives you some def then adding in +def can help as well. In the case of pain recharge should be your first focus, then hit point boosts as the more HP you have the more benefit you gain from the regen in suppress pain. I really would focus on just those bonuses and if you can't get them then either frakenslot set IO's to maximize your enhancement bonuses or just slot generic IO's. You are already capped on 5% recharge bonuses so about the only other things I would suggest are a 5 piece set of glimpse of the abyss in intimidate (6.25% recharge), a 5 piece set of stupify in oppressive gloom (6.25%) or positrons blast in soul tentacles (also 6.25%). Not sure where to cannibalize the slots from other than pulling 1 each out of dark empowerment and enhant undead and just slotting 2 end reduction IO's in those powers. -
Since the necro pets are best in melee but have a tendency to hang back and use their ranged attacks more than they should (grave knights) I built my necro/pain as a melee oriented tankermind. I took Provoke and using it and my vet attacks I move into melee range and pull agro on myself. This has the benefit of positioning your pets so they will use thier melee attacks AND keeping them in suppress pains regen field. I only drop out of bodyguard mode when faced with a lot of AE damage or when facing a hard boss/EB and the pets clearly have all the aggro. The only drawback is that my zombies are not always well positioned to get the most out of their cones but I figure that is balanced by the damage my grave knights dish out with melee attacks.
Other than provoke I took a movement power, stamina and pretty much everything in my secondary except the rez and the mez protection power (Enforced morale)- I skipped the rez because you can't use it on your pets and enforced moral because I mostly solo and having a single pet mezzed isn't that big a deal usually. I also took assault for the extra damage - not sure about that choice but no other pool powers really cried out to me. If you don't have enough vet attacks you could take air superiority if you like fly as a travel power or jump kick if you like super jump. Don't slot them up much - just enough for decent accuracy so you can hit and keep aggro.
Then I slotted both resistance aura IO's (The Soveriegn right aura in zombie horde and Expedient Reinforcement in Soul extraction) for +20% resistance and focused on slotting for recharge to get World of Pain, angushing cry and painbringer up as often as possible. You can easily slot 4 sets of doctored wounds in your heal powers (Nullify pain, soothe, Share pain and supress pain) for 4 of the 5% recharge bonuses. Actually, you could slot a 5th set in painbringer for that matter - my necro/pain is only 36 so I haven't gotten there yet.
I am planning on taking the soul mastery epic pool, primarily for oppresive gloom and soul tentacles to disorient the mobs around me and to keep them from running away. Fleeing mobs is one of the real problems I have noticed with pain - it has no control powers of any kind so you have to watch for running mobs pulling your pets into extra aggro. Taking a res based shield like dark embrace is also nice as you get to stack it with World of Pain.
EDIT: I completely forgot to mention good primary powers. Obviously take all 3 pet summons and the 2 pet buffs. Definitely take soul extraction - not only is it a nice 4th pet but you can slot the expedient reinforcement +res aura IO in it as I mentioned above. If you need an extra attack to keep aggro while tankerminding and don't want to take a pool attack you could take one of the 3 attacks but I skipped them - you will be busy healing, buffing and debuffing and if you go with a tankermind build you will spend a lot of time spamming provoke. Defintely slot provoke up well for recharge and taunt duration. -
Heroside I go mutant and natural almost exclusively - the primary reason being that you can get L13 damage SO's for mutant and natural origin's from Mr. Yin's store in faultline and since I have 2 accounts with multiple chars on each account that have done the faultline arcs that means by L13 or so I frequently have capped damage on all my attacks - makes a big difference in grinding through the pre-stamina, pre-SO levels especially when you solo as much as I do.
Villainside I go with whatever origin my character concept fits best however my 'generic' characters tend to be mutants, mostly because buying DO's in Cap is a pain for anyone BUT mutants as all 3 clusters of 'shops' in Cap offer something for mutants. Magic is the worst as you can't buy magic DO's in the central shops - only at the port oakes ferry vendor and the magic vendor by the Mercy helipad. Of course, my second favorite concept based origin is magic so often I suck it up and live with it.
EDIT: As for SO's - I use almost no SO's in my characters, so I really don't care what drops I get as I sell everythign anyways. At L22 I slot 1 set of 25 SO's in all my non-attack slots (I frankenslot all my attacks with cheap L25 set IO's) and I upgrade to generic IO's at L27, so after that I don't even bother with SO's. -
You don't actually increase the magnitude of an existing hold with a proc like this - what you do is get a second hold but since like status effects stack for their duration it has the same effect as increasing the magnitude - the difference is that you only get the extra mag for the duration of the proc, not the duration of the base hold.
This is exactly the same way domination works on status effect powers for dominators - you don't actually get a higher mag status effect with domination you get a second status effect that is at 150% the duration of the first, so you effectively get double the mag for the base duration of the power and a normal mag for an extra 50% duration because the base status effect will have worn off. -
Well, Mercs are resistance based so thermal, pain, dark and storm would compliment them defensively. Thermal with its resist shields, Pain by adding extra resists through world of pain and dark/storm would fill in some of the resist holes with shadow fall/steamy mist respectively. All 3 of those give you ways to increase damage to mobs, either through +damage buffs or -resistance (or both) which is also good with mercs as they need a little more help with their damage then the other sets.
Dark, storm and thermal go slightly better with the ranged nature of mercs; pain requires getting in melee range for it's one debuff but thats just the one power. From a resistance stand point storm has the advantage of allowing you to slot the recharge intensive pet sets so you can use the expedient reinforcement +res aura IO, which is a huge boon to a resist pet as that lets you take it and the sovereign right +res aura IO for a total of +20% resistance to all.
However as Merc's are mostly ranged and have decent smashing & lethal resists any set that keeps mobs at range would also work - so trick arrow and traps would do as well. About the only sets I wouldn't suggest are force fields and poison as FF doesn't have any way to increase merc damage and poison has no way to keep things at range - plus I don't really like the single target nature of poison as even the most single target oriented mastermind will tend to take on a lot more opponents than a non-MM. I honestly think poison should have been done as a corruptor set first.
I have played traps and dark up to L30ish on mercs and found them quite playable. If you want an easy mode on mercs go with dark - the tendency of your mercs to stay clustered around you nicely counters the low area on the heal and all of the controls plus the debuffs makes it pretty effective. I am in the process of working on a merc/storm and it looks to be a lot of fun although he is only 23 currently and so I haven't gotten to the really good chaos inducing powers yet which means it should only get better.
So I would say come up with a concept and pick which set fits it best - all of them will be effective except for the last two and even those will be playable as I don't think you can have an unplayable MM without working actively to create one. -
Quote:Even better try this:Originally Posted by Gypsy_of_Paradox
/Macro GoTo petcomall goto
click the macro and the spot you want them to go, hope that helps ya
/bind shift+rbutton "petcomall goto"
or
/bind shift+lbutton "petcomall goto"
Hold down shift and then right click(first) or left click(second). The first will give you a targetting circle just like Gypsy's suggestion, you have to then place it and left click. The second will command the pets to go wherever your mouse pointer happened to be when you clicked. The advantage of the first is control, as you know exactly where they will go from the targetting circle; the advantage of the second is speed - one click movement. You can substitue alt or ctrl for shift if you need to make multiple binds like this.