FightMan

deerrrrr.... I didn't mean damage, I meant recharge. oops =)

But still, you answered my question.


Yes, fulcrum shift does hit your acid mortar. Hell, it even hits my FFG =)

I've got an idea, get rid of Serum and replace it with

Fortification:
The mercenaries dig in and commit to a defensive position. They become nearly impossible to move and gain a bonus to resistance. They also gain range and damage bonuses from the superior firing position.


Pet's become immobilized, but gain resistance and protection from most controls, specifically Kb, repel, teleport, fear and terror. This is the classic "dug in" military force. I am not sure where to put the resistance numbers, since it would have to be balanced with enhancements, self buffs (like world of pain or the upcoming thermal set) and IOs, but it should be respectable. The teleport resist is mostly to keep shady players from teleporting their "dug in" Mercs from battle to battle.

The range and damage bonus would represent a good firing position that allows you to brace your weapon and pick your shots well. I would have suggested a recharge bonus (looking at those spec-ops grenades) but I know that wouldn't fly. Say, 20% range bonus and 20% damage.


For the power itself, make it a toggle with a 10 minute enhanceable cooldown. It is a toggle so you can turn off the immobilize early if the mobs die fast, or if you really need to get them out of something nasty (read, massive Malta bot burn patch) There might be a problem with someone trying to root their Mercs and then pull the mobs too it, but I honestly think doing that would slow down a good player. That leaves this for specific situations, like really nasty groups, boss encounters, really bad pulls or ambushes.


This is just an idea that popped into my head just now =) so please feel free to poke holes in this.

Those procs are good fun when your AM gets a bunch of fulcrum shift stacks on it and those procs hit for big damage.

But, if you slot three damage how do you cap recharge and still get reasonable accuracy?

I really dig the MM class and I'd like to do some PvP with them. I hear the last few Issues really did a number on PvP, so i was hoping I could get a lay of the land here before I run out and get crushed. I have a thug/poison who I used to do well with and a new merc/trap. Are any MM builds viable in PvP? Or, are they all scrapper bait?

It also depends on your secondary. If you are /PD, painbringer will fix that problem. Also, if you routinely group with a /kin or /rad, their buffs can help. If solo and you chainpull then an End reduct is a good idea.

Thugs are very good. All of their pets spend all of their time doing damage, with a large portion of it AOE. Unlike some, they are pretty solid from 1 to 50. But they do have issues, like the suicidal arsonist.

I've never played a high level bots, but I can tell you one thing they do that thugs can't. Bots buff the MM. All in all everything Stryker said iseems pretty spot on.

Well, I'd think you could take secondary powers as long as you took all of your primaries. If you were gonna do it, Thugs would be the set to use I think. Gang War is a decent power at 18 and the 3 pistol attacks are ok (by Mastermind standards).

Nice Av LtZerge. I now want undead gorillas as a primary.

If you've seen Brotherhood of the Wolf, the part at the end when De Fronsac raids the cult hideout is flat out mean. He is fighting with anger and attitude. Dani vs the crowd was great too. All in all a fine movie.

The Jet Li against the school from Fist of Legend was great too.

Edit : while I was looking on youtube I see the classroom scene was mentioned, excellent taste

With I16 we will have the option to set the missions for an 8 player part and 4 levels up. To me, this sounds like a challenge built for a MM to solo. I have a bad feeling that my Thug/Poison would get mashed in there, so I might have to level up one of my MM alts. But which one?

Bot/FF is probably the best bet, but I think my eyes would bleed from trying to play it. What MM's do you guys think would be the best for Hard Mode COV?

just put /FF on em....it is guaranteed to work.

Flaming thugs

Flaming Arsonist?

I just put the same Lady Grey IO in my acid mortar and I can verify that it does work. The damage number gets lost in the spam when my mercs are shooting, but if I drop the mortar first I sometimes saw the proc go off before the boys open up.

I also dropped an acid mortar in Cap a few times and let it shoot grey cons, as a test. The proc definitely worked there. When it fired it one shotted the grey cons and it was listed in my combat log.

The biggest offender with nin/ta is the burning oil slick bug. With a ranged set, you can use the oil slick arrow, set it on fire and then cackle maniacally as the other guys burn in your oil patch. With a melee set, the burning oil triggers the panic response, and your pets will run around like idiots (more so then normal) no matter what commands you try and give them.

Ninja/TA is great theme, but that bug kills it for me.

Secondaries? I still want more PRIMARIES!!1one



I'd like to see thermal get ported over if I had a choice, but /rad would be very nice. All of the /rad goodness would be as good for us as it is for everyone else.

Personally, I would not level any melee pets with /trick arrow. One of the great things about TA is being able to ignite the oil slick, but that will make your melee pets run around like idiots and stop stabbing the other guys.

Me and some friends ran 5 thugs/traps in a group.....it was incredibly powerful. With stacking enforcer leadership, our own leadership, our pistol attacks and the FFG everything just melted. We only need a higher difficulty setting, relentless was just too easy.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought bodyguard only worked if your pets are on defensive/follow. Are you saying that it works in defensive/stay and defensive/goto as well?

The humanoid restriction isn't too bad. Even within the current parameters there is a lot of room for creativity with just existing powers and the costumes avaliable to anyone.

I got to this topic a bit late (damn forum passwords and my bad memory) but I'll still throw this out there. I really like my Merc/Pain because unlike some other secondaries, Merc KB is no issue....it is just a form of soft control. Team's love you and you make for a hell of a tankermind. If you care....the sound a full squad of Mercs makes is awesome too....it sound's like a bad day in Fallujah.

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And for all those wanting pets like insects and such... Remember that the devs stated a while back mastermind henchmen have to be humanoid. That means two arms, two legs, one head, walk upright.

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Bug men from the Twilight Zone?

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I figured that, but the two examples of alien horrors I gave are typically drawn with 2 legs walking upright. The bugs from the Aliens movies were very humanoid. Tyranids normally have 6 limbs, but I never intended IP theft here...just using it as an example.

There is a lot of room withing the current character builder, using existing powers, to create awesome new power sets for MM's. I could build my example set in a day....if anything it's the AI that hold up the works.

It's hard to go wrong TBH. Just be advised that the melee pets require a lot more direct micromanaging to get the same results as a ranged set. Your going to be spoiled after leveling up a Thugs MM. Thugs have the most power from 1 to 50, the rest all have serious slow levels. Robots, for example, don't really come into their own until you at least get the assault bot.

It also depends on if you want a solo monster or something mroe group friendly. Bots/Pain would be a good grouper, as would Bots/Storm if played well.

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LOL! That's great....what kind of powers would the Attorney mob have?

....some kind of slow or immobilize......

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I was thinking that they would have spammable mass confusion.


MM's do need more primaries, but I am pretty sure everyone knows it judging by the size of the stickied thread. For my vote I'd like to see some sort of aliens. Of a similar vein to the ones from the "Aliens" movies or the Tyranids from 40k. Give em a combination of toxic, spines and claw powers.